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In the midst of the worst economic and social crisis Cuba has faced in decades, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) has decided to dust off its favorite script: the threat of an all-powerful external enemy, the promise of an apocalyptic war, and the warning of a supposed "genocide" if the country abandons socialism.
In a recent post on Facebook, MINFAR stated that "the flags of the Revolution and socialism will not be surrendered without a fight" and conveyed a message filled with drama by asserting that a potential "victory for the enemy" would have "unfathomable" consequences.
According to the text, there would be a "needless shedding of blood of innocent men and women" and a genocide unleashed by "the insatiable thirst for revenge of the counter-revolution."
The organization closed the message with the usual slogan: "The defense of the socialist homeland is a duty of all Cubans," a phrase that translates to the idea that the population must be ready to sacrifice everything for a system that fails to guarantee food, electricity, or medicine.
Shortly after, the organization itself bolstered the narrative with another publication that once again quoted Fidel Castro and defended the "high level of preparation for defense" as a mechanism to "prevent war."
In that post, he emphasized that the Cuban Army must be strong and possess both the necessary weapons and a solid fighting spirit among the people.
"The war we avoid is our greatest victory," he concluded.
Rhetoric is not new, but it is becoming increasingly insistent.
This week, the MINFAR shared another message stating that "no enemy will be safe in Cuba" and that any foreign force "will not have a square meter where it can feel secure," because it could "be blown up by a mine or fall into an ambush that annihilates it."
The words were accompanied by images of uniformed individuals firing machine guns and handling landmines, in a display intended to portray an island turned into a trench.
These publications are part of a weekly military preparation phase that the regime has activated across the country, under the slogan of "the people's war".
Every Saturday, according to the authorities, there will be military, political, and ideological activities involving militias, reservists, and civilians, in exercises that include shooting practice with Soviet-made rifles, basic training, and demonstrations with drones, more symbolic than strategic.
While Havana simulates an impregnable fortress, the U.S. is moving forward with a high-tech military modernization process under the "Arsenal of Freedom 2026" campaign, with multimillion-dollar investments in aircraft carriers, cutting-edge weapons, and advanced defense systems.
The contrast is evident: on one side, an army that relies on technology; on the other, a regime that boasts of rifles inherited from the Cold War and anti-personnel mines as if they were the latest advancement in military science.
Reactions on social media have come swiftly.
Although government-aligned profiles repeat slogans about the "preparation of the people," most comments range from mockery and anger to open criticism.
Some users pointed out that the regime "uses young people as cannon fodder while the children of the elite live in capitalist countries."
Others ask ironically if they are going to wage war "with weapons from the 1960s," and there are those who sum up the general sentiment with phrases like "the enemies are you, who have the people starving."
In a country marked by blackouts, inflation, food shortages, and unprecedented mass migration, the MINFAR has chosen to revive the epic of the trenches, invisible enemies, and eternal sacrifice.
The threat of a supposed "genocide" does not seem to aim so much at preparing the population for a real war as reinforcing fear, discipline, and political control, while everyday life crumbles.
Once again, the Cuban regime is trying to convince an exhausted citizenry that their main problem is not the lack of food, electricity, or medicine, but rather an ever-watchful external enemy.
And while the official discourse promises heroic battles, the people continue to fight their own: survival.
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