The Cuban musician Manolín, El Médico de la Salsa, stated this Tuesday in an interview with CiberCuba that the United States has a direct historical responsibility for what has happened in Cuba over the past seven decades, as the regime has used Washington as a constant justification for all repression and misery.
"There is a government and a dictatorship that is destroying the people of Cuba in the name of the United States," the singer declared. "It claims it's because of the United States. That the misery is due to the United States, that there is no democracy in Cuba because of the United States, that they cannot allow us freedom of expression because of the United States."
For Manolín, this logic has psychologically paralyzed the Cuban people for decades. "If the United States does nothing 90 miles away, what are we going to do? We are unarmed," he pointed out, explaining that geographical proximity, rather than being an advantage, has acted as a brake: "If we had been farther from the United States, the dictatorship would no longer exist. But being so close does not benefit us; it harms us."
The singer was straightforward in highlighting Washington's implicit complicity: "The United States, silence means consent. If you allow that, you are being complicit in the dictatorship."
Manolín declared himself a "staunch critic" of President Donald Trump, but acknowledged a shift in his assessment of the current administration. "One day I discovered or realized that for the first time a President of the United States had truly committed to the freedom of Cuba," he stated, also highlighting the role of Marco Rubio, of Cuban descent, as Secretary of State.
From that position, the singer presented a binary dilemma to Washington: "Either lift the blockade to remove the justification, or bring down the dictatorship. And if it has taken you this long, then just topple it directly now."
“The United States has the responsibility to help us escape from the dictatorship. They have a responsibility. Seriously, seriously”, he insisted.
This stance represents a radical evolution in the artist's thinking. Historically critical of the Cuban government, Manolín had always left a door open for the regime's rectification in his public statements. After living five years in Cuba after 20 years of exile, he claims to have lost all hope for internal change and now openly supports external pressure.
The singer definitively left the island in September 2024 and settled in Spain, where he has intensified his criticisms of the regime. In April 2026, he compared the dictatorship to a kidnapping and urged the Cuban people: "Do not save your executioner, it is time for freedom."
The international context reinforces Manolín's argument: in January 2026, Trump signed an executive order declaring Cuba an "extraordinary and unusual threat" and imposing tariffs on countries that export oil to the island. That same month, the UN described the situation in Cuba as a humanitarian emergency, reporting 96,000 postponed surgeries and one million people without regular access to drinking water.
"It needs to come to an end now. It's a moral issue; it's a problem that has reached its limit. It can't go on," concluded Manolín.
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