Diego Suárez, a historic businessman of the Cuban exile community who will turn 100 in November, stated with complete confidence that 2026 will be the year of Cuba's freedom in a interview for CiberCuba.
"I don't believe it; I am absolutely sure that this year we will achieve the freedom of Cuba," declared Suárez, born on November 11, 1926 — the same year as Fidel Castro — and a resident in exile for 67 years.
The statement comes at a time of high political expectation, after Mike Hammer, head of the United States Mission in Cuba, declared in February that "the dictatorship will come to an end" and that 2026 would be a historic year for the island.
Suárez, who began his fight for the liberation of Cuba with the organization Comando L before becoming a co-founder of the Cuban-American National Foundation (FNCA) in 1981 alongside Jorge Mas Canosa, described his state of mind with enthusiasm: “I am extremely hopeful, extremely positive. I believe that the winds are blowing in favor of our cause and that very soon we will have the opportunity to establish a new republic.”
When asked if he has ever felt disappointed after 67 years of struggle without seeing the expected results, he replied emphatically: "No, no, absolutely not. On the contrary."
He recalled having traveled with Mas Canosa through countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and even Moscow in search of support for the Cuban cause, and emphasized that this experience never diminished his conviction.
"It seems to me that Cuba is closer than ever," he stated.
Suárez does not evade the reality of the island after more than six decades of communist dictatorship. "Cuba is a bombed city, it is a bombed republic," he said, acknowledging that reconstruction will be a monumental task.
However, he rejected the idea that the Cuba he holds in memory has disappeared forever: “What we need to do is reclaim it and what we need to do is rebuild it because what has happened is a disaster.”
For that reconstruction, Suárez proposes a concrete roadmap: to put into action the Constitution of 1940 as the legitimate legal basis, the last legal framework of the republic before the imposition of the Castro system.
"Let's look at the Cuba of the past, let's put the 1940 constitution into action, and move forward with the reestablishment of the new republic," he noted.
The businessman also emphasized the role of the exile community in that future reconstruction, estimating that more than two million Cubans abroad have been preparing "consciously and unconsciously" for that task.
The interview takes place against a backdrop of maximum pressure from the Trump administration on the Cuban regime, which includes the threat of deploying an aircraft carrier just a hundred meters off the island's coast to force the regime's surrender.
2026 is also the year of the centenary of Fidel Castro, who passed away in 2016, adding a symbolic dimension to Suárez's words: the man who was born in the same year as the dictator, who outlived him, and who now, on the verge of turning a hundred, expresses that he feels "the Eternal Cuba that these bandits kidnapped in 1959" is about to be reclaimed.
Suárez also revealed in the same interview the existence of a transition plan for Cuba already outlined by leaders of the exile community in coordination with the Government of the United States, a detail that strengthens his conviction that change is not merely a desire, but a reality in progress.
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