Standing on Paseo del Vedado, with the Plaza de la Revolución behind him, a Havana resident directly requested Donald Trump to intervene militarily in Cuba, in a video published on Facebook that encapsulates the desperation of millions of Cubans: "Do it now, people are dying."
The man, positioned on the same avenue that leads to the headquarters of the Cuban Council of State, repeatedly points towards the square and gives the U.S. president precise instructions on how to reach the heart of the power that keeps the people in misery.
"Trump, pay attention here. Look, forget about all those reconnaissance planes, don’t waste gas on that," the message begins with a mix of dark humor and genuine urgency.
Then he pointed out the route: "If you come in the Abraham Lincoln, you stop there, it’s right there by the sea. Go straight, without turning, all the way up Paseo. And look, there they are."
The man even stated that if the American military were to get lost, any Cuban on the street would gladly show them the way.
For night operations, he offered his own guiding services: he would climb up to his rooftop with a laser to point out the target to the bombers. "If they come at night, everything will be dark. There’s never any light here. You don’t even need to turn off the thermal plants or anything. They’ve all been shut down for a while."
The gesture is not just geographic. By standing on Paseo Street and pointing towards the Plaza of the Revolution—where the headquarters of the Council of State, the Ministry of the Interior, and the murals of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos are located—the man is indicating the core of the regime, directly responsible for the suffering of the Cuban people.
The video directly relates to Trump's statements from May 2, when at a private dinner in West Palm Beach, he described a scenario in which the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier would approach "about 100 yards" from the Cuban coast to pressure the regime into surrendering.
On May 6, he reiterated that "Cuba is completely devastated" and that "it would be an honor to free it." The Havana resident in the video seems to have taken his word: since you have the boat, use it.
An independent survey with over 42,000 responses revealed that 60.9% of Cubans support direct military intervention from the United States, and only 4.7% blame the embargo for the country's problems.
Díaz-Canel responded to Trump on May 2 with his usual rhetoric: "No aggressor will find surrender in Cuba". The man on Paseo Street has a different response: "It's easy. But do it now, people are dying. People are very unwell, they're very sad."
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