The Cuban-American Yurek Vázquez, an expert in markets and corporate rescue, published a video on Instagram in which he delivers a direct message to those who hope that Donald Trump will be the one responsible for the fall of the Cuban dictatorship.
Vázquez believes that the responsibility for that change should lie with the Cuban people themselves, rather than depending on any foreign power.
The video has accumulated over 61,000 views and more than 3,000 likes, reflecting the resonance of its argument at a time when the Trump administration is actively negotiating with the Havana regime a possible economic agreement that would include relief from sanctions and a gradual exit for Díaz-Canel.
"Dictatorships do not fall because another country wishes it. Dictatorships fall when their own people decide to confront the regime," stated Vázquez, who lived in Cuba until he was 14 years old.
To support his thesis, he cited five historical examples: the fall of Ceaușescu in Romania in 1989, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in East Germany, the Solidarity movement in Poland, the Maidan Revolution in Ukraine, and the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. In all those cases, he noted, the decisive factor was the internal mobilization of the people, not the intervention of a foreign power.
Vázquez harshly criticized the passivity that, in his opinion, the Cuban people have shown.
He recalled that after the protests of July 11, 2021 —the largest popular demonstrations in Cuba in decades— most of the protesters returned home in the face of the repression ordered by Díaz-Canel with the phrase "the order to combat has been given" and did not protest again nor did they go out to support those who were detained.
Approximately 1,512 people were detained, and 519 were sentenced to prison terms of up to 25 years. Vázquez questioned why there has not been sustained pressure in the streets since then to demand the release of those political prisoners.
"With what moral are we going to ask the United States to put their lives on the line when the Cubans themselves, those who are facing the problem, those who are enduring that dictatorship, are not willing to put their own at risk?" Vázquez stated.
The Cuban acknowledged that fear and repression are real factors, but insisted that the primary responsibility lies with the Cuban people.
"In other dictatorships, the people paid the price to change their destiny. The people, not an outside country. They didn’t sit back and wait for crumbs or some kind of condescension to save them. They saved themselves," he said.
The video is released in a context of heightened political tension between Cuba and the United States. Trump stated that an agreement could be reached "very soon", warning that otherwise "we will do what we have to do."
The opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart have warned that "partial changes are not acceptable" and that any agreement must ensure full democracy.
Vázquez stated that the United States will always act according to its own interests. "America First means that those interests will have to be negotiated," he said. He added, "If I have to do it, then it will be my way and in my own interests."
The crisis that Cuba is experiencing worsens the situation. Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, the island lost between 26,000 and 30,000 daily barrels of Venezuelan oil, which has led to blackouts affecting 58% of the territory. There is a shortage of food, and salaries are insufficient.
If neither poverty nor repression has been enough to drive popular mobilization in Cuba, Vázquez poses his most uncomfortable question: "Who is responsible for bringing down that dictatorship?".
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