The Cuban ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez warned on Friday that Cuba "will not make any political concessions" in the face of pressures from the United States government, in response to recent statements by President Donald Trump, who advised the Havana regime to "make a deal before it’s too late."
During a speech delivered at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune in the Cuban capital, Díaz-Canel asserted that if Cuba were attacked, it would "fight with the same ferocity that generations of brave Cuban fighters bequeathed, from the wars for independence in the 19th century, the Sierra Maestra, the underground struggle, and Africa in the 20th century, to Caracas in the 21st century."
"There is no possibility of surrender or concession, nor any type of understanding based on coercion or intimidation," the president stated.
"Cuba does not have to make any political concessions, nor will that ever be on the negotiation table for an understanding between Cuba and the United States. We will always be willing to engage in dialogue, but on equal terms and based on mutual respect," he added.
In his speech, Miguel Díaz-Canel harshly criticized Washington, accusing President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio of leading a policy of regional aggression.
“The current emperor of the White House and his infamous Secretary of State have not stopped threatening us,” he said, once again using Cold War rhetoric to portray himself as a victim of the “empire.”
He heightened the drama by asserting that not even a full-scale offensive could subdue Cuba. "They would have to kidnap millions or make us disappear from the map, and even then, the ghost of this little archipelago would haunt them forever," he proclaimed before his supporters.
In the same vein, he asserted that "the promoters of the attack and the kidnapping of President Maduro resorted to the most abominable methods of fascism" and that "the current U.S. administration has opened the door to an era of barbarism, dispossession, and neofascism" in the Caribbean.
The message from Díaz-Canel comes after a direct warning from Trump, published on January 11 on his social media platform Truth Social, where the U.S. president reiterated that “there will be no more oil or money from Venezuela going to the island.”
Trump's comment came just a week after the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores during a U.S. military operation in Caracas, an event that has left the Cuban regime in a state of extreme vulnerability.
Havana has been one of the main beneficiaries of Venezuelan oil since the times of Hugo Chávez, in exchange for the presence of Cuban military advisors, doctors, and intelligence agents in Caracas. The fall of Maduro and the control of the United States over the Venezuelan transition leaves Díaz-Canel's regime with the near-total loss of its main source of subsidies.
Díaz-Canel's words, delivered in a defiant and patriotic tone, seem aimed at unifying his supporters amid an internal context marked by shortages, blackouts, and growing social discontent.
However, Trump's warning signifies a hardening of Washington's policy towards the Cuban regime, which will now face the challenge of sustaining itself without the financial or energy support from Venezuela.
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