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Miguel Díaz-Canel reappeared this Friday at a military-profile event just hours after publicly acknowledging conversations with representatives of the United States government.
According to a statement from the Presidency, the leader visited the Western Army General Staff to learn about the plans for the so-called "War of All the People."
According to the text, the Cuban leader took part in the activities for National Defense Day in his capacity as president of the National Defense Council.
The note specifies that, as part of that day, he visited military objectives of the Western Army and received information about the country's defensive preparation plans.
The sequence of the day is particularly significant because, according to the official information itself, that visit took place after his appearance before the media from the Palace of the Revolution "to address the situation in the country."
That is to say, the shift to military leadership—where a bellicose rhetoric has always prevailed due to a supposed threat from the U.S.—occurred immediately after a public intervention focused on the issue of relations with the United States.
Díaz-Canel was accompanied at the event by several key figures from the political, military, and security apparatus of the regime.
The note mentions Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz; the Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Party, Roberto Morales Ojeda; the ministers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, Army Corps Generals Álvaro López Miera and Lázaro Álvarez Casas; and Army Corps General Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, First Deputy Minister of the FAR and Chief of Staff.
All of them are members of the Political Bureau and the National Defense Council.
Also present were Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla; the Secretary of the Council of Ministers, Major General José Amado Ricardo Guerra, both members of the Political Bureau; and the Chief of the Western Army, Major General Ernest Feijóo Eiró.
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The composition of the delegation emphasizes the political-military nature of the event, which was attended by the leadership of the Party, the Government, the Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and Cuban diplomacy.
The official note does not provide verbatim statements from Díaz-Canel during the visit, nor does it specify any concrete decisions made during that tour.
In parallel with the recognition of contacts with Washington, the leader reemerged in a setting associated with military preparations and the regime's defensive doctrine.
Thus, the report released by the authorities presents a dual image of the day: on one hand, the leader appearing before the press to address the national situation; on the other, the head of the National Defense Council who, shortly thereafter, moves to a military facility to review war plans alongside the senior leadership of the Cuban power structure.
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