Senior US and Cuban military officers have met at Guantanamo Bay, the US base on the Caribbean country, as relations between the two countries plunge amid growing US pressure.
US General Francis Donovan met with Cuban General Roberto Legra Sotolongo on Friday "for a brief exchange on operational security matters," US Southern Command said in a statement along a photograph of the meeting.
Reports last week suggested that Havana was considering drone strikes on the base in the event of an American attack.
Donovan led a perimetre security assessment of the US facility and discussed safety of service members and operational readiness, the statement said.
Guantanamo Bay, 700 kilometres southeast of Miami, on the southeastern coast of Cuba, is notorious as the site of abuse against those detained after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"Naval Station Guantanamo Bay is a vital operational and logistical hub that supports US military efforts to counter threats that undermine security, stability and democracy in our hemisphere," US Southern Command said.
US Navy ships in area
Havana-Washington relations, which have declined sharply over the imposition of a US energy blockade on the island in January, worsened further with the unsealing last week of criminal charges against former Cuban president Raul Castro by a Florida court.
The US still controls the base in Guantanamo Bay.
The US military now has a handful of Navy ships, including at least one amphibious ship, in the Caribbean, a much smaller force than was present at the time of the Venezuela operation.
On Friday, the Pentagon announced that a new unit of 1,300 sailors and Marines would be replacing the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which deployed to the region last summer.
