WASHINGTON, United States, May 30, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Senior US and Cuban military officers met on Friday at Guantanamo Bay, the US base on the communist island, as relations between the two countries plunge over President Donald Trump's threatened takeover.

US General Francis Donovan met with Cuban General Roberto Legra Sotolongo "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 perimeter security assessment of the US facility and discussed safety of service members and operational readiness, the statement said.

Guantanamo Bay, 430 miles (700 kilometers) southeast of Miami, on the southeastern coast of Cuba, is notorious as the site of abuse against terror suspects detained after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Trump has also planned to use the base as a holding center for undocumented migrants.

"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.

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 indictment, which relates to an incident dating back to 1996, could serve as a pretext for a US toppling of the Cuban government, as Trump has openly mused about seizing the island.