The Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel led a meeting in Havana with foreign activists and supporters who traveled to the Island to back the regime, amid one of the most profound crises the country has faced in decades.
The meeting took place at the Palacio de las Convenciones, where around 650 people from 33 countries participated in the so-called Convoy Nuestra América to Cuba.
The event was marked by speeches supporting the Cuban political system and by repeated criticisms of the U.S. embargo, a narrative that the government insists on placing at the center of the national situation.
During his speech, Díaz-Canel expressed gratitude for the presence of the visitors and described their arrival as an act of courage: "We know what it means to come to Cuba," he stated.
The leader insisted that international support reinforces the legitimacy of the system and stated that such initiatives provide a "spiritual energy" during complex times.
He also defended the idea that the Cuban cause transcends its borders: "What we are discussing is not just the cause of Cuba, but also the cause of all the peoples of the world."
In his speech, the leader again resorted to the usual rhetoric of power on the Island, portraying Cuba as a supportive nation and a victim of external campaigns. "This revolution will continue to prevail," he assured, while reiterating that the country does not represent a threat, but rather an example.
However, it was towards the end of his speech when he delivered one of the most striking phrases of the meeting: "We are in difficult times, but we are also in times of definitions, and here is a people that prefers to die standing rather than on their knees." This statement starkly contrasts with the everyday reality faced by millions of Cubans.
Because while the official discourse speaks of resistance and dignity, the country is experiencing a situation marked by power outages exceeding 20 hours a day in many regions, chronic food shortages, prices inflated beyond control, and wages that have completely lost their purchasing power. This is compounded by hospitals lacking resources, a shortage of medications, and a widespread deterioration of living conditions.
In that context, the rhetoric of sacrifice promoted by the power elite is particularly called into question.
Those who lead the country do not experience the same hardships as the population, which makes calls to "resist" or even to "die standing" sound disconnected from the reality of those who must survive day to day with the bare minimum.
The activities of these types of delegations also generate increasing criticism.
Many question why foreign activists, who live in open societies with functioning economies, travel to Cuba to support a system that restricts basic freedoms. For Cubans, this external support either overlooks or chooses not to acknowledge the real precariousness in which the population lives.
In the meantime, the regime continues to attribute the crisis almost exclusively to external factors, avoiding any accountability for decades of failed economic decisions, structural inefficiency, and a lack of deep reforms.
In that speech, the United States and figures like Donald Trump continue to be identified as the main culprits.
Díaz-Canel, for his part, reiterated that Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with Washington but without renouncing the principles of the system: "We remain committed to our motto, Homeland or Death, and we will overcome," he concluded.
The contrast between that message and daily life on the Island continues to highlight an increasingly evident gap between the official discourse and the reality of a country that is facing sustained deterioration in virtually all areas.
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