Related videos:
Poland has offered to share its firsthand experience in transitioning from communism with the United States, in order to help Cuba move towards democracy and a market economy, as stated by the Polish Foreign Minister, Radosław Sikorski, to the Washington Examiner from Warsaw this week.
"Poland can leverage its firsthand experience from the 1989 transition and the Solidarity movement to advise Cuba on a peaceful, democratic transition and market reform," stated Sikorski, who also serves as deputy prime minister under the head of government, Donald Tusk.
The Polish chancellor acknowledged that the transformation of his country was "successful but uncomfortable for Polish society," and emphasized that this experience holds lessons applicable to other countries seeking to emerge from communism.
Poland was governed by a puppet regime backed by the Soviet Union from the end of World War II until 1989, when it made a negotiated and peaceful transition to democracy.
The communist politicians mostly disappeared along with the unpopular policies without being removed or punished, in what Sikorski described as a "bloodless process, but not entirely satisfactory from a psychological standpoint."
The Polish Deputy Minister of National Defense, Pawel Zalewski, confirmed at a dinner with journalists last Monday that Warsaw is interested in "sharing the Polish experience of transforming from a communist system to democracy and a market economy" if change becomes possible in Cuba, and specified that Sikorski has already discussed the matter directly with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The coordination between Poland and Washington regarding Cuba has concrete precedents. On September 2, 2025, Sikorski and Rubio met in Coral Gables, Florida, at the ceremony for the Lech Wałęsa Solidarity Award presented to Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, an award valued at 275,000 dollars.
Sikorski emphasized that Rubio's presence at that ceremony reflects a "joint approach between the U.S. and Poland regarding the future of Cuba."
In May 2026, the Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer, founder of UNPACU and a political prisoner who left Cuba in October 2025, met with Sikorski in Warsaw during a European tour. On that occasion, the Polish foreign minister was emphatic: "Communism leaves nothing but ashes. We support the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people."
The Polish offer comes at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Havana. An intelligence report published last week revealed that the Cuban regime has acquired more than 300 military drones from Russia and Iran since 2023, with potential uses discussed against the Guantanamo Naval Base and targets in Florida.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has not hidden his stance on the regime: "Their economic model does not work, and those in charge cannot fix it, and the reason they cannot fix it is not only because they are communists."
"That's already quite bad, but they are incompetent communists. The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist," he stated before the press at the White House.
Senator Rick Scott linked the drone crisis to Cuba's alliance with Russia and Iran and the increasing pressure from Washington on Havana, while Díaz-Canel warned that a U.S. military aggression would result in a "bloodbath of incalculable consequences."
Zalewski, reflecting on the risks faced by authoritarian leaders when attempting to reform their systems, recalled the example of Mikhail Gorbachev: “When you start changing the system in a positive direction, the processes you set in motion generally overwhelm you,” he warned, suggesting that the Cuban regime faces a no-win dilemma.
Filed under: