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The Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz shared this Tuesday on his X account an article published in Granma, the official publication of the Communist Party of Cuba, signed by former State Security agent Raúl Antonio Capote, in which the regime boasts about having withstood the pressure from the Trump administration.
The article, titled "An Executive Order that Violates International Law," argues that "the recent measures announced against Cuba do not respond to real threats to the security of the United States, but rather to the persistence of a political model that Washington has failed to bend through coercion."
Capote adds that "an objective analysis of the Executive Order reveals, on one hand, its false rhetoric devoid of evidentiary support and, on the other, the truth of Cuba, backed by international law."
The selection of Capote as a signatory is not coincidental. Publicly revealed in 2011 as a double agent of the Ministry of Interior's counterintelligence, under the aliases "Daniel" and "Pablo," he infiltrated independent libraries and dissident circles on behalf of the regime, resulting in the imprisonment of several librarians and the confiscation of books.
Since then, the regime has used him as an "analytical" voice in Granma to attack opponents and Washington's policies.
The publication arrives on the same day that Trump stated on Truth Social that "Cuba is asking for help" and announced potential talks, just before departing for China.
The regime's message of "resistance" contrasts with a devastating reality. Cuba is facing blackouts of up to 25 hours a day in over 55% of the territory and a projected GDP contraction of 7.2% by 2026, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against Cuba and has decreased the island's energy imports by between 80 and 90%.
On May 1, Trump signed a new executive order introducing secondary sanctions against foreign banks that operate with sanctioned Cuban entities, and on May 7, Marco Rubio announced direct sanctions against GAESA, the military conglomerate that controls between 40% and 70% of the Cuban economy, with estimated illicit assets ranging between 18 billion and 20 billion dollars in foreign accounts.
The regime, for its part, has rejected an offer from Washington that included tens of millions in humanitarian aid, free access to Starlink for two years, and agricultural assistance in exchange for political reforms, and it has refused to discuss the release of political prisoners such as Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo.
Díaz-Canel summarized it with a phrase that the regime repeats as a slogan: "Political prisoners are not at the negotiating table."
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