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The Cuban ambassador to Mexico, Eugenio Martínez Enríquez, sparked controversy after publicly stating that a potential military intervention by the United States on the island would result in the death of numerous Cubans, yet he insisted that resistance would be the only option.
“Of course many Cubans will fall, but Cuba's option is to resist”, declared the diplomat during the Anti-Fascist Cultural Marathon in Support of Cuba, held at the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City, as reported by the newspaper La Jornada.
Far from downplaying the human cost of a potential conflict, Martínez Enríquez insisted that resistance is the only path.
“When that happens, there is no town that can be defeated, there is no surrender until one surrenders. The Cuban people will never surrender”, assuming that the Cuban people en masse are with the regime that rules the country
The statements are part of a broader speech in which the ambassador warned about "threats" from sectors of the U.S. government to resort to military action.
“There are threats… to use the military option, which would be catastrophic,” he stated, before reiterating that, despite that scenario, the stance would be to resist at all costs.
At another point in his speech, he reinforced the epic tone.
“You and we will not be witnesses to the defeat of Cuba, we will be the protagonists of victory,” he said, and added: “The decision is to resist and to overcome. And I assure you that we will prevail.”
The diplomat also launched an attack on Washington's policy towards the island, calling several of its measures "crimes."
"The threat that any country daring to supply fuel to Cuba will be sanctioned is a crime. The energy blockade against Cuba is a crime. The intensified economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba is a crime," he asserted.
In the same vein, he called on the international community: "We urge humanity not to be complicit in this crime."
The political context and international support
The event, organized by the Antifascist Cultural League and lasting over 12 hours, coincided with the 65th anniversary of the Playa Girón invasion.
During the day, which included cultural and political activities, 15 tons of food supplies were also collected for the island.
From the stage, Martínez Enríquez also thanked the support of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who days earlier, at the Summit in Defense of Democracy in Barcelona, proposed a joint declaration against a possible military intervention in Cuba.
"A awakening of dignity... the precise words to reject interference against Cuba," he expressed.
The ambassador's statements come amid a backdrop of increasing tension between Washington and Havana.
At the end of January 2026, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring the Cuban government an "extraordinary threat" to the national security of the United States, while in April, U.S. media reported that the Pentagon was assessing scenarios for military action.
In parallel, recent movements, such as surveillance flights by the U.S. Navy near the island, have been interpreted as signs of additional pressure on the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
In that same context, Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister, Anayansi Rodríguez Camejo, declared days ago in Berlin that Cuba would resist any potential attack "until the last breath of every patriotic Cuban," a line of rhetoric that aligns with statements made by the ambassador in Mexico and also by Díaz-Canel himself.
Martínez Enríquez's words, however, have generated controversy by framing the potential loss of human lives not as a tragedy to be avoided but as an accepted cost within the official narrative of resistance.
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