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Miguel Díaz-Canel published a message this Thursday on X in which he acknowledged the possibility of receiving the $100 million humanitarian aid offered by the U.S., while also seizing the opportunity to blame the U.S. embargo for the crisis in Cuba, describing the humanitarian situation as "coldly calculated and induced."
Díaz-Canel conditioned acceptance on the aid being delivered "in full compliance with universally recognized practices for humanitarian assistance" and described the offer as "inconsistent and paradoxical," since the U.S. systematically and ruthlessly punishes the Cuban people.
"The damage could be alleviated more easily and swiftly with the lifting or easing of the blockade, as it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced," he noted.
The twist is striking: just 48 hours earlier, the chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla had described the offer as a "fable" and a "100 million dollar lie," while Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío characterized it as a "dirty political deal."
This Thursday, the Cuban regime retreated and declared its willingness to listen to the conditions of the offer.
He established as priorities "fuels, food, and medicines," an implicit acknowledgment of the collapse that the regime itself has caused after decades of mismanagement.
What Díaz-Canel omits is that the energy crisis prompting this turnaround is a result of the government's own management.
The Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted on Wednesday that Cuba is completely out of fuel: "it has absolutely no fuel, no diesel, only associated gas." Between December 2025 and the end of March 2026, no fuel ships arrived on the Island.
This Thursday, the electricity generation deficit exceeded 2,204 MW during peak nighttime hours, breaking the record of 2,113 MW set on Wednesday. Power outages are affecting up to 70% of the country, with cuts ranging from 20 to 22 hours daily in Havana. The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest generator in the country, suffered its ninth breakdown of the year.
The only exception to the shortage was a Russian donation of 100,000 tons of crude oil that arrived on March 31, 2026, and was depleted by May, highlighting the regime's dependence on its allies and the structural fragility of the system.
The State Department formalized the offer of 100 million on Wednesday through an official statement, specifying that the funds would be distributed through the Catholic Church and independent humanitarian organizations, without the mediation of the Cuban state.
The statement also revealed that Washington had made "numerous private offers" beforehand, including free satellite internet via Starlink, all of which were rejected by Havana.
This exclusion by the Cuban government in the distribution partly explains the tone of Díaz-Canel's message: by mentioning that the regime's experience with the Catholic Church "is rich and productive", the regime attempts to position itself as a legitimate interlocutor in a framework specifically designed to exclude it.
The model proposed by the U.S. already has a concrete precedent: after Hurricane Melissa in October, Washington channeled nine million dollars through Caritas, benefiting around 8,800 families in the eastern provinces, all without government mediation.
From Air Force One, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that "what is happening in Cuba is unacceptable" and that the regime "has led the Island to ruin." The ECLAC projects a contraction of the Cuban GDP of 6.5% for 2026, the worst in Latin America.
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