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Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on Saturday before delegates from 36 countries about the "imminence of a military aggression" by the United States against Cuba, invoked the doctrine of the "War of Everyone" and declared that "every Cuban man and woman has a rifle" and an assigned defense position, in a speech delivered at the International Solidarity Meeting with Cuba held at the Palace of Conventions in Havana.
The speech took place a day after Donald Trump signed a new executive order against the Cuban dictatorship that expands sectoral sanctions with immediate application, targeting the energy, defense, mining, and financial services sectors, and on the same day that Trump declared in Florida that the U.S. "will take Cuba almost immediately" and threatened to send the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to just 100 yards off the Cuban coast.
Díaz-Canel described the situation as a "multidimensional aggression" and noted that the regime has been preparing defense plans for months since anticipating Trump's return to power.
"There is an imminent threat of military aggression, and that is not something we want or wish for. Cuba is a country of peace. Yet the government of the United States talks about war every day and raises the rhetoric of threats towards Cuba every day," he stated.
To illustrate the resilience of the Cuban people, he evoked the 32 Cuban guards who died in Venezuela during the U.S. operation that captured Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026.
According to Díaz-Canel, those fighters faced elite forces of the American army for over 45 minutes, even though the operation was intended to last 100 minutes.
"Imagine what would happen in a military aggression against Cuba, where the example of those 32 would be multiplied by millions of Cubans," he said.
The ruler invoked the doctrine of the "War of the Entire People," developed by Fidel Castro in the 1980s in response to invasion threats during the Reagan administration, when the USSR did not guarantee direct military intervention.
"In this defensive doctrine, every Cuban has a rifle. Every Cuban has a position in the defense and a mission to fulfill in defense of the homeland, the revolution, and socialism," he stated.
Díaz-Canel also revealed the seriousness of the energy crisis: Cuba went without fuel for four months until a Russian ship improved the electrical situation over the last 15 days, but he warned that "this oil is running out these days and we do not know when more fuel will enter Cuba."
The new executive order signed on May 1 adds to the Executive Order 14380 of January 29, 2026, which declared Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" and imposed an energy embargo that has reduced Cuban oil imports by 80% to 90%, causing blackouts of up to 25 hours a day in more than 55% of the territory.
The regime also boasted of having collected over 6 million signatures in the "My Signature for the Homeland" campaign, although independent sources questioned both those figures and the actual participation in the May Day parades, citing coercion and forced attendance.
Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla also hardened his tone in rejecting the sanctions: “The Fatherland, the Revolution, and Socialism are defended with ideas and with arms. They will not intimidate us.”
Díaz-Canel concluded his speech with a direct warning: “We do not fear war, and there will be no surprise or defeat here,” in a address that is not the first in which he warns about a possible armed conflict with Washington.
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