The Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed this Thursday that Donald Trump privately assured him that he does not plan a military intervention in Cuba, in a statement that openly contrasts with the aggressive rhetoric the Republican leader has maintained for months regarding the island.
«If the translation is correct, he told me he does not plan to invade Cuba,» stated Lula at a press conference held at the Brazilian embassy in Washington, hours after meeting with Trump at the White House.
Lula celebrated the statement and took the opportunity to advocate for dialogue with Havana. "Cuba wants to dialogue, wants to dialogue, and to end a blockade that should never have started, since Cuba decided to be free, the longest blockade in the history of humanity," added the Brazilian leader, according to the correspondent from ABC and Cope at the White House, David Alandete, in his X profile.
The meeting between both presidents, the first in Washington during Trump's second term, lasted over two hours and focused on tariffs, the Brazilian payments system PIX, rare earths, and drug trafficking. However, the Cuban issue dominated the subsequent press conference.
Lula's words stand in stark contrast to Trump's public statements about Cuba throughout 2026.
On March 16, the U.S. president stated from the White House: "I believe I will have the honor of taking Cuba."
Days later, on March 27, at a summit in Miami Beach, he noted that "Cuba is next."
The most notable episode occurred earlier this month when Trump described a scenario of forced surrender using the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln: "We would stop the aircraft carrier a couple of hundred yards off the coast and watch how they react," he said at a private dinner in West Palm Beach.
Last Monday, Trump threatened again to deploy the aircraft carrier off the coast of Cuba in an interview with Salem News Channel, reiterating that the regime would surrender in the presence of the warship.
In that context of escalation, the U.S. deployed additional personnel to Southern Command on Thursday, amid rising tensions with the island.
The Trump administration has also intensified economic pressure on Cuba: more than 240 new sanctions since January 2026, the interception of at least seven oil tankers, and a reduction of between 80% and 90% in the island's energy imports.
The Cuban regime, for its part, has responded with rhetoric of resistance.
Last Saturday, Díaz-Canel warned of an imminent military aggression from the U.S. and declared that "no aggressor, no matter how powerful, will find surrender in Cuba."
Lula, a historic defender of the Cuban regime and critic of the U.S. embargo, traveled to Washington on a visit that had been postponed since March due to the joint incursion of the U.S. and Israel into Iran, which the Brazilian leader had publicly criticized.
What Trump told him privately about Cuba, according to Lula, is that there will be no invasion —even though his public rhetoric continues to point in the opposite direction.
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