A video circulating on social media shows a group of five or six young Cubans in black tactical uniforms, vests, kneepads, and helmets simulating hand-to-hand combat in what appears to be a military facility of the regime.
The clip was published this Thursday on X by the user @DiazVismar38292 with the ironic comment: "The Cuban Delta Force is preparing for war against the U.S., will they be able to bend the empire with these tactics?"
The direct reference is to Operation Absolute Resolution on January 3, 2026, in which Delta Force units of the U.S. military captured the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.
In that operation, 32 Cubans who were part of Maduro's security apparatus were killed, including members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), agents from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), and bodyguards.
The exact location and date of the video recording are unknown. It is also unclear which armed institution the young people belong to, who appear to be recruits of the Mandatory Military Service (SMO) or cadets from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) receiving training as riot control forces, judging by the equipment they carry and a shield with a sign that says "POLICE."
The video is part of an unbroken chain of mockery on social media that has accompanied the regime's propaganda campaign since January of this year, when Cuba declared 2026 as the "Year of Preparation for Defense" and instituted National Defense Day, with military exercises every Saturday.
The previous episodes have been no less striking: in January, the Western Army conducted exercises with museum rifles, without helmets and in tattered uniforms; in April, maneuvers in Villa Clara showcased oxen and mules transporting weapons, which led to the viral comment: "Let the Americans see that technology."
On April 25th, the Cuban Foreign Ministry published a video of diplomats practicing shooting with the hashtag #CubaEstáFirme, which triggered a similar avalanche of mockery.
This Thursday, an analysis also circulated about how the so-called "Black Wasps" from Cuba are preparing against the U.S. Delta Force, with the same comparative angle.
The contrast between the warmongering rhetoric of the regime—which promised to "give blood and life" following the deaths of its men in Venezuela—and the images produced week after week encapsulates, for many Cubans on social media, the true state of the forces that Díaz-Canel intends to oppose to the "empire."
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