Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of Raúl Castro and director of the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), stated that Cuba will not yield to external pressures despite the pain being experienced by the Cuban people, in a speech delivered to members of the Convoy Nuestra América.
"There is pain, there is a lot of pain, there is a lot of concern, but we are also taking action because we desire peace, to survive in peace, and to take care of ourselves. The best is being sought for our people without yielding, without kneeling, without accepting impositions," declared Castro.
The speech takes place in the context of the worst energy crisis that Cuba has experienced in decades.
On March 21, the electricity deficit reached 1,740 MW against a demand of 2,950 MW, with blackouts affecting 60% of the island and outages lasting up to 15 hours a day in Havana, according to data from the Electric Union.
The situation escalated dramatically starting on January 3, 2026, when the Trump administration captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, cutting off Venezuelan oil supply by means of a naval blockade.
Mexico, the second key supplier, temporarily suspended its shipments in light of threats of U.S. tariffs, and Russia, despite promises of assistance, had not sent any ships with oil in three months, according to the Cuban government itself.
Castro attributed the crisis to the U.S. embargo and defended the socialist project as a sovereign decision: "Economic, financial, and trade blockade, no country can survive under those conditions. And Cuba wishes, by the will of the people, to continue with its socialist project."
Regarding the electrical infrastructure, he acknowledged its deterioration but justified it with the same argument: "Our electrical system is very outdated because, precisely due to the blockade, we have been unable to modernize it. So, it is a vicious cycle of accumulated needs."
The Cuban Energy Minister, Vicente de la O Levy, had acknowledged that 2025 was a "very difficult and tense" year and warned that the impacts would persist into 2026.
In the same speech, Castro criticized U.S. President Donald Trump, calling him a "deeply ignorant" person who "knows nothing about politics and even less about human rights," and asserted that "even the CIA is warning him, don't mess with Cuba or we won't come out well".
He also accused the United States of funding what he called a "fake opposition" within Cuban LGBT activism: "They have recruited people here to pretend to be an opposition, but a fake opposition, it is a mercenary opposition invented for money."
The speech was delivered in front of 650 activists from 33 countries who were part of the Convoy Nuestra América, organized by Progressive International —an organization of which Castro is a member of the Advisory Council—, which brought over twenty tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba, including medicines and solar panels.
Castro concluded his speech by invoking the revolutionary legacy: "Fidel always left us the commandments of the revolution, the commandments, which are undeniable elements that we cannot concede."
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