Cuba blames hostile US rhetoric for embassy attack

Cuba's foreign minister laid the blame for an attack on the Cuban Embassy in Washington Thursday on what he described as "increasingly hostile rhetoric" by the US State Department and the US Embassy in Havana against the island nation.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made the charge after complaining the Cuban government has received no information from the Trump Administration about the attack, nor any details about the perpetrator.

According to Washington police, a man armed with an assault rifle was arrested after opening fire outside the Cuban Embassy in Washington early Thursday, his bullets tearing holes into the walls and pillars near the front entrance in what authorities suspect was a hate crime.

The gunfire broke out around 2 a.m. outside the embassy in northwest Washington.

Metropolitan Police Department officers were called to the scene after neighbours reported hearing gunshots, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

Officers found the man, Alexander Alazo, 42, of Aubrey, Texas, armed with an assault rifle, and they and took him into custody without incident, police said.

The US has tightened sanctions against Cuba for its support for Venezuela.

It has criticised the Cuban government on a variety of issues, including human rights, leading to increasingly strained relations between the two Cold War adversaries.