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The Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel came to the defense of his ally Gustavo Petro this Monday, after the U.S. President Donald Trump accused the Colombian president of being “a leader of drug trafficking who encourages the massive production of drugs.”
In a message posted on his official account on X (formerly Twitter), Díaz-Canel expressed his support for Petro and accused Washington of "interference" and attempting to reimpose the old Monroe Doctrine, a symbol of American dominance in the region.
“Dear President @petrogustavo, the peoples of Our America stand with you and with #Colombia. We reject the interference and the fallacies of the U.S. Government that seeks to reimpose the Monroe Doctrine in its relations with the sovereign nations of Latin America and the Caribbean,” wrote the Cuban leader.
The message arrives amid escalating tensions between Washington and Bogotá, following Trump's strong statements and Petro's response, in which he accused the Republican leader of being "misled by his advisors."
The diplomatic crisis has intensified with the suspension of all U.S. aid to Colombia and new military operations in the Caribbean, where a U.S. Navy bombing of a submarine suspected of carrying drugs provoked a protest from the Colombian government for the alleged violation of its sovereignty.
Díaz-Canel, who in recent days has also reaffirmed his alliance with Nicolás Maduro, is attempting to position himself as the voice of leftist allied governments in the region. Havana has rallied around chavismo and is now openly supporting Petro, while the regime faces a serious internal crisis marked by power outages of over 20 hours, food shortages, and epidemic outbreaks.
He, also the first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, accused the United States of "reviving imperial interventionism" and promoting a new cold war in the Caribbean.
Analysts believe that Díaz-Canel's message aims to strengthen the Havana-Caracas-Bogotá axis as a counterbalance to Washington's influence in Latin America. However, it also reflects the desperation of a regime that needs allies to withstand its increasing economic and diplomatic fragility.
Meanwhile, Trump maintains his hardline stance: suspending funds, increasing military pressure, and warning that if Petro does not take action against drug trafficking, "the United States will do it for him."
With his statement, Díaz-Canel not only aligned himself with Petro but also directly confronted the White House again, in a desperate attempt to reaffirm his role as one of the last defenders of the Latin American authoritarian bloc against the Trump administration.
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