The journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla, director of Café Fuerte, expressed his opposition this Saturday to a U.S. military intervention in Cuba. During an interview with Tania Costa, in CiberCuba, he acknowledged that there is "an unprecedented consensus" on the need for change on the island, but he advocates for the path of negotiation rather than armed action.
The statements come three days after the U.S. Department of Justice formally charged Raúl Castro for the downing of two planes from Hermanos al Rescate in 1996, and amidst the debate regarding a potential military action by Washington against Havana.
"I believe there is a consensus, like never before, that a change must happen, it has to occur. That government cannot continue, that the governance mechanisms in Cuba are completely outdated, out of place. It's an unproductive country," stated Cancio Isla.
The former professor at the Faculty of Journalism in Havana emphasized that since 1994, there have been proposals for economic reform—from the Spanish Carlos Solchaga, as well as from Vietnam and China—that the Castro regime systematically rejected, including a meeting at the Hotel Nacional in the 2000s, where the Vietnamese proposals were met with disapproval.
Cancio Isla described the internal situation in Cuba as "a Calvary," and quoted a message received from Sancti Spíritus reporting 38 continuous hours without electricity.
This figure is part of an energy crisis that in May 2026 has reached record levels, with deficits exceeding 2,100 MW and blackouts lasting up to 50 consecutive hours in eastern municipalities such as Songo-La Maya.
"I am not clear on the issue of military intervention in Cuba, and I oppose it happening because it would have tremendous consequences for the future of Cuba," stated the journalist
Cancio Isla also warned that an intervention would be costly "not only in terms of money but also from a human perspective," with special effects on the state of Florida, and that the Trump Administration has that option on the table but is weighing it carefully.
Last Wednesday, Trump publicly dismissed the idea of a military escalation by stating that he does not believe "it's necessary," even though days earlier Politico had revealed that his administration was considering options that included airstrikes and a ground invasion.
Cancio Isla prefers to "enhance everything related to negotiation" rather than resort to military action, and he acknowledged that the main culprit behind the resurgence of interventionist thoughts is the regime itself.
"The main reason these thoughts have resurfaced in Cuban public life is the Cuban government."
However, the journalist believed that resorting to an external solution represents a collective failure. "The fact that we have not been able to resolve our differences, our dispute among Cubans, is really an acknowledgment that we have failed. And that seems to me to be a tragedy that we have to derive the solution to national problems from external intervention."
When asked if he would want to fly alongside Marco Rubio when the change comes to Cuba, Cancio Isla referred to the writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante to respond: "I do not want to go on either the first or the second plane."
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