Mercedes Schlapp, former Director of Strategic Communications at the White House during the first Trump administration, published a video on X this Thursday in which she reaffirmed her personal commitment against communism with a powerful statement: "For us, this is personal. My father was a political prisoner in Cuba, so I vow to fight against communism until the end."
In the video, Schlapp explains that her father was imprisoned for seven years under Fidel Castro's dictatorship. "We personally know the atrocities of communism, the atrocities of these dictatorships that have stripped innocent people of their rights and properties, including my family," she stated. Schlapp was born in Florida in 1971, the daughter of exiled Cuban immigrants, and she has made that family history the centerpiece of her political activism.
In her statements, the former advisor reviews what she describes as advancements of the conservative movement in Latin America. She highlights the expansion of CPAC Latino—an organization of which she is a co-founder in its Latin branch—to Mexico, Paraguay, and Argentina, where she praises President Javier Milei as "a fighter against communism" and cites his famous phrase "Long live freedom, damn it." She also celebrates the work of special envoy Rick Grenell in Venezuela as part of the efforts to pressure the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
Regarding Cuba, Schlapp was particularly emphatic. "We are pressuring the Cuban government in a very, very, I would say, creative way, to see if we can finally see a change after 67 years in Cuba. We are making great strides," she noted. Her words align with President Trump's public stance, who stated that Cuba is going to fall pretty soon and appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to negotiate a possible regime change on the island.
The video garnered over 127,000 views and nearly 5,600 reactions on X just hours after its release, reflecting the strong interest the topic generates among the Cuban-American community and the conservative movement.
Schlapp's statements come at a time of maximum pressure from Washington on Havana. Since January 2026, Trump signed an executive order declaring Cuba a threat to the national security of the United States, and his administration has imposed over 240 new sanctions, blocked the supply of oil to the island, and intensified discreet diplomatic contacts with figures in the Cuban system in what analysts have described as a strategy to reconfigure power on the island without military intervention.
These movements are part of what some have called 'Cubastroika': Trump's plan to drive economic changes on the island, a strategy that combines economic pressure with selective opening to force a transition from within the system itself.
Analysts and international media have closely followed this strategy. While Bloomberg outlines Trump's plan to transform Cuba, other governments like Spain's have preferred to distance themselves from Washington's strategy regarding the island.
"Latino Americans want freedom. They come to America. They desire prosperity. And they want to know that they can build their lives in their own countries, in their homelands, instead of having to deal with these leftist governments that have destroyed so much of their societies," concluded Schlapp in the video.
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