Miguel Díaz-Canel demanded that Spain and the European Union defend their companies and citizens against the sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, in an interview granted to the Spanish outlet elDiario.es in Havana, where he discussed the exit of Spanish companies from the island.
The interview takes place on the same day that the deadline set by the Trump administration for foreign companies to sever ties with GAESA expired, the Cuban military conglomerate that controls approximately 40% of the island's economy.
"The EU and Spain must protect their businesses and citizens. They cannot allow extraterritorial laws to be imposed on them by another country," stated the Cuban leader.
Díaz-Canel described Washington's pressure as a deliberate strategy: "Trump seeks to suffocate Cuba to provoke a social explosion and have a pretext to intervene."
The Cuban ruler identified three scenarios that, according to him, the U.S. administration is pursuing: to provoke a social explosion to intervene under the guise of humanitarian reasons, to seize the Cuban economy through coercive pressure in order to impose a change in the political system, and direct military aggression.
Regarding this last possibility, he warned that "invading Cuba would cost hundreds of thousands of Cuban lives, but it would also result in great human losses for the invader."
The interview takes place days after the hotel chains Meliá and Iberostar announced their withdrawal from hotels linked to GAESA, along with the Canadian Blue Diamond Resorts, the shipping companies Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM, and financial entities such as Banco Sabadell.
Díaz-Canel acknowledged that these companies "are leaving against their will" and opened the door to new operators: individuals or entities from other countries "that do not have accounts in the United States nor dependency on the United States."
The Cuban leader appealed to the historical and commercial ties between Cuba and Spain to demand a stronger stance from Madrid and Brussels, noting that the embargo no longer only affects the island but also Spanish and European banks, tourists, and investors.
The day before the deadline, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) formally blocked the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces and added Díaz-Canel himself to the list of specially designated nationals, along with his wife Lis Cuesta Peraza, his stepson Manuel Anido Cuesta — a resident of Madrid — Alejandro Castro Espín, and his son Raúl Alejandro Castro Calis.
Regarding the dialogue with Washington, Díaz-Canel stated that Cuba is willing to negotiate but under clear conditions: "It must be a dialogue without pressure, on equal terms, without conditioning regarding changes in our political and social system."
The energy crisis affecting the Cuban people exacerbates the situation: there is a waiting list of over 100,000 patients for surgical operations, including more than 12,000 children, due to power outages caused by fuel shortages.
"If we are so insufficient, if we are so incompetent, why do you block me? Why don't you let me collapse on my own?" challenged Díaz-Canel at the end of the interview, in a statement that encapsulates the regime's stance under the intense pressure from the Trump administration.
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