The Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) published this Thursday on its official Facebook page a 36-second reel featuring images of elite troops in tactical exercises, accompanied by the phrase: "War should not be provoked, but we will wage it if the enemy imposes it."
The video shows snipers in ghillie suits carrying large caliber rifles—possibly .50 BMG—equipped with optical sights and bipods, soldiers with light machine guns of the PKM type with ammunition belts, fighters with RPG-7 grenade launchers, and concrete defensive positions in a tropical environment.
As seen in the video, the troops shown appear to correspond to the Black Wasps, the name given to the Mobile Brigade of Special Troops (BMTE), the elite unit of the FAR created on December 1, 1986, with roots in the Angola war and initial training supported by Soviet, Vietnamese, North Korean, and Chinese advisors.
The publication comes in the context of the "Year of Preparation for Defense," the official designation assigned by the regime to 2026, which has served as a framework for a sustained propaganda campaign by MINFAR on social media since January.
This new reel is the latest in a rhetorical escalation that has been intensifying for months alongside the pressures from the Trump administration.
On May 4th, MINFAR published the message "For Cuba, there is no alternative, victory or death." The following day, the ministry stated that "the order for a ceasefire will never be given", accompanying the statement with an image of a missile launch.
On Tuesday, the MINFAR published a training reel featuring a quote from Fidel Castro that garnered over 92,000 views and sparked massive ridicule in the comments. On Wednesday, another video of tactical aerial insertion with a Soviet Mi-8 helicopter surpassed 113,000 views and evoked reactions of mockery and criticism. "Even the helicopter is hungry there", said one user who commented.
The immediate geopolitical context explains the intensity of the regime's response.
On Wednesday, Politico revealed that the Pentagon has troops and weaponry ready in the Caribbean to act against Cuba, and that “only the order” from Trump is needed to activate them. On Thursday, Axios reported that the administration has already conducted military simulation exercises for intervention scenarios in Cuba and that the internal strategy is described as “accelerationism”.
“The best way to describe it is 'accelerationism'. But we don't want to end the regime just yet. There is a method. It’s step by step,” stated a senior Trump administration official quoted by Axios in its report on the possible collapse of the regime.
The accumulated pressure includes more than 240 sanctions against Cuba since January, the interception of at least seven oil tankers —reducing energy imports by 80% to 90%—, secondary sanctions against the military-industrial conglomerate GAESA signed on May 1, and the declassified federal indictment against Raúl Castro for the downing of the Hermanos al Rescate airplanes in 1996.
A U.S. defense official quoted by Axios summarized Washington's stance: "Everything is on the table, but there is no planned or imminent invasion. When the president says it's time to act, we will be ready for anything."
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