The Venezuelan lawyer Tamara Sujú, executive director of the Casla Institute, issued an urgent call to Cubans during an interview with CiberCuba, to seize the current geopolitical moment and drive a democratic transition on the island, warning that "the malignant cell is the Cuban regime."
Sujú, who has spent years documenting the influence of the Cuban repressive apparatus in that country, analyzed the highs and lows of the Venezuelan process following the capture of Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, drawing parallels and distinctions with the Cuban situation.
"This is a train that Cuba must catch", Sujú stated, urging the Cuban opposition to unite, become organized, and demonstrate their organizational strength in front of the Trump Administration.
The lawyer was straightforward in identifying the regime of La Habana as the source of democratic decline in Latin America: "The malignant cell is the Cuban regime. It has infiltrated democratic governments in other countries and has promoted regimes like those of Venezuela and Bolivia."
Sujú added that "Cuba is the source of everything that has happened in Latin America regarding the deterioration of democracy and the establishment of non-democratic systems like the Venezuelan one," and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio "is very clear about it."
However, he warned that Cuba had "the bad luck of what happened in Iran." He refers to the fact that the focus of the U.S. government is now on the conflict in the Middle East, which has cooled off the Cuban agenda just when the island was closest to change.
"It was very close in some way not long ago, before what happened in Iran. I thought Cuba was coming then," he said, and urged to resume that agenda urgently before the elections in the United States in November.
For Sujú, the pressure must be simultaneous: diplomatic, political, and from within the island. "I would set up a tent next to the White House, erect my tent as a structure, as a prepared civil society, and tell them: don't forget us," he stated.
The lawyer also questioned whether Washington might be negotiating with a son of Raúl Castro instead of with organized Cuban political leaders: "Why aren't you talking to Cuban political leaders? Step forward. Tell them that you do have influence, that you are organized, and that you can take the reins of a country."
Sujú believed that Cuba, unlike Venezuela, is "easier to manage" once the dictatorship falls, because it lacks the terrorist groups, natural riches, and complex borders that complicated the Venezuelan situation.
About the releases of prisoners announced by the Cuban regime —51 in March and a pardon of more than 2,000 on April 2— Sujú pointed out that they continue with "the same script" as Venezuela. The pardon of more than 2,000 on April 2, none political according to none political according to human rights organizations, replicates the pattern of chavismo, which claims to have released 7,000 prisoners, but non-governmental organizations document fewer than 650 political prisoners.
The interview concluded with a phrase that summarizes Sujú's message to the Cubans: "Now or never. I have never seen them closer to freedom than they are now."
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