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The Cuban singer Yotuel Romero reacted this Saturday with a strong message on Facebook to the statements made by President Donald Trump, who claimed that the United States "will take control of Cuba almost immediately" after concluding military operations in Iran, and announced the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off the island's coast.
"United States will send the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and position it off the Cuban coast. They must surrender or there will be military action against the regime's high command," Yotuel wrote in his post, summarizing Trump's words. The co-author of "Patria y Vida" closed his message with two words in uppercase: "IT'S OVER."
Trump made these statements on Friday during a private dinner of the Forum Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to him, the aircraft carrier would stop "about 100 yards off the coast," and the regime would respond: "Thank you very much, we surrender." The president conditioned any actions regarding Cuba on the conclusion of operations in Iran, stating: "I like to finish the jobs."
On the same day, Trump signed a new executive order that drastically expands sanctions against the Cuban regime, blocking assets in the United States and imposing secondary sanctions on foreign banks that facilitate transactions with sanctioned Cuban entities.
Yotuel's reaction is part of his long history of activism against the dictatorship. In January of this year, the artist posted a viral message directly addressed to Miguel Díaz-Canel: “You still have time to leave”, warning him that “you will go down in history as what you are: a dictator defeated by your own fear.” In March, he participated in the Free Cuba Rally in Hialeah, where he performed the song “Puente Libertad” alongside El Chacal.
The enthusiasm in the Cuban exile community was widespread. Opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer celebrated Trump's words from Spain with a brief remark: "I almost returned immediately." Cuban-American Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar also applauded the new executive order, stating that "the era of appeasement has ended."
The regime responded with rejection. The Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denounced a "new clear and direct threat of military aggression" and stated that "Cubans will not be intimidated." Díaz-Canel described the measures as a reflection of "moral poverty" and "intimidating behavior," dismissing any possibility of surrender.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently operating in the Middle East alongside two other aircraft carriers as part of Operation Epic Fury against Iran, which began on February 28, 2026. Trump has explicitly conditioned any action regarding Cuba on the conclusion of that conflict, which adds an element of imminent but conditional threat to his statements.
The accumulated sanctions against Cuba since January 2025 now exceed 240 measures, in an unprecedented escalation of pressure that the Cuban exile community is watching with increasing expectation.
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