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The Cuban regime seems to have entered a phase of political containment and diplomatic nervousness.
As the administration of Donald Trump intensifies its offensive against Nicolás Maduro and the Caracas-Havana axis, the Cuban leadership reacts with a mixture of denial, alarm, and defensive rhetoric, fearful that U.S. pressure may extend to the island.
The most recent symptom came from the account of Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who published an unusually long message in which he claimed that “Cuba maintains an active and responsible fight against drug trafficking”, defending “cooperation with the United States” and accusing Washington of having “hindered bilateral exchanges.”
"It is regrettable that this country, the main drug supplier to ours, has decided to put a stop to and obstruct that cooperation," the minister wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
But the attempt at defense had the opposite effect. The post was flooded with thousands of responses filled with indignation, irony, and direct accusations. Many users—ranging from Cuban exiles to journalists and international analysts—interpreted the message as a gesture of fear rather than one of firmness.
From skepticism to sarcasm
“They killed Ochoa to blame him for Fidel Castro's dealings with Pablo Escobar”, responded a user, recalling the historic Ochoa Case, a symbol of the connection between the Cuban military leadership and drug trafficking in the 1980s.
"It's no coincidence that Pollo Carvajal links them to drug trafficking in Venezuela", wrote another, referring to the explosive letter sent by the former Chavista intelligence chief Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal to Trump from a U.S. federal prison, in which he accused Havana of being the “strategic brain” of the Cartel of the Suns and of having proposed to Hugo Chávez to use cocaine as a geopolitical weapon against the United States.
The responses left no room for nuances. “The fear changed sides, Bruno”, a user commented sarcastically. “You spend all day defending before the attack. No one saves them”.
From Miami, activists and analysts agreed on a common diagnosis: the Cuban regime appears anxious about what it perceives as the prelude to a hemispheric offensive led by Washington.
Trump intensifies the pressure and Havana protects itself
Tensions have rapidly escalated since Reuters revealed that “elements within the Cuban regime” have reportedly made discreet contacts with U.S. officials to discuss “what the region would look like without Nicolás Maduro.”
The leak, which suggests internal divisions within the power structure in Havana, came at the worst possible time: just as Trump is ramping up military and diplomatic pressure on Caracas.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in the Caribbean, accompanied by eight warships, a nuclear submarine, and F-35 aircraft, represents the largest show of American strength in the region in decades.
Washington has already designated the Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization and does not rule out additional measures against its sponsors.
In that context, Rodríguez Parrilla's statements appear less as a reaffirmation of sovereignty and more as a preemptive defense maneuver, an attempt to insulate Cuba from the scandal that is already engulfing Maduro.
The Echo of Carvajal and the Shadow of Drug Trafficking
The accusations from former Venezuelan general Hugo Carvajal continue to shake the foundations of the Bolivarian axis.
In his letter, Carvajal asserted that it was the Cuban regime that devised the drug trafficking strategy for geopolitical purposes, and that intelligence agents from Havana were directly involved in the creation of the Cartel de los Soles, providing weapons, passports, and impunity to criminal organizations.
Havana denies everything, but its response comes at a time when the U.S. narrative —backed by the new 2025 National Security Strategy— has positioned Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua as “nodes of a hemispheric criminal network.”
Meanwhile, leaked reports from Caracas indicate that Maduro distrusts even his Cuban bodyguards, fearful that Havana will sacrifice him if his stay becomes unsustainable.
Uniforms, fear, and signals from the Palace
This atmosphere of paranoia is compounded by a symbolic detail: the constant wearing of military uniform by Miguel Díaz-Canel since late October.
In Cuba, wearing olive green is not a coincidence, but a political statement. Analysts consulted by CiberCuba interpret the gesture as a sign of internal nervousness in the face of the possibility that the United States may escalate its offensive towards the Island if Maduro falls.
In the corridors of the Communist Party and MININT, according to diplomatic sources in Havana, the term "narcodictatorship" has become a taboo that incites fear and private discussions.
A regime entrenched against the shifting landscape
The diagnosis, both inside and outside the Island, is almost unanimous: Havana trembles when it hears the word "narco-dictatorship."
Not because it is new, but because it now resonates in Donald Trump's White House, accompanied by aircraft carriers, sanctions, and intelligence leaks.
The story seems to be closing in on Castroism: internationally isolated, dependent on Venezuelan oil, and under suspicion of having been the intellectual architect of a continental drug trafficking network, the regime is facing an unprecedented moment of vulnerability.
The signals on X, the popular responses, and the tone of their chancellor confirm that in Havana, they no longer speak with the arrogance of resistance, but rather with the awareness of someone who knows they are being watched, cornered, and on a countdown.
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