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Ismara Mercedes Vargas Walter, ambassador of the Cuban regime to the United Kingdom, warned this Sunday that Cuba will defend its sovereignty against any U.S. military attack, regardless of the cost, in an interview with The Telegraph conducted from the Cuban embassy in London.
"The Cuban people will not allow a foreign power to attack our country. We will defend our sovereignty and we will go all the way, even if that means the Cuban population reaches zero," the diplomat stated.
The statements come at a time of unprecedented escalation between Washington and Havana, with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz deployed in the Caribbean since May 20, and the Trump administration imposing more than 240 sanctions against Cuba since January 2026.
The ambassador acknowledged the military disparity between the two countries but insisted that this does not change the regime's stance: "Reaching this scenario is the undesired outcome for Cuba. Engaging in military action could be a catastrophe: Cuba could be destroyed."
Walter described the formal prosecution of Raúl Castro, aged 94, as an act of "cynicism and opportunism," referring to the charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice for the downing of two aircraft belonging to Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four U.S. citizens.
"The prosecution of Army General Raúl Castro carries a deep sense of cynicism and opportunism, considering that these events happened 30 years ago; why now?" he questioned.
The diplomat stated that the accusation is a pretext to justify military aggression and "to convince the U.S. public of the need for further actions."
In terms of Cuban military capacity, the gap with the U.S. is staggering: 50,000 soldiers compared to 1.3 million Americans, 300 Soviet-era tanks against 4,666, and only four attack helicopters versus over a thousand.
However, the regime has activated the doctrine of "War of All the People," an asymmetric resistance plan from the 1980s that mobilizes the entire population in a prolonged guerrilla war.
Dr. Brian Fonseca, a national security expert from Florida International University, explained that the Cuban strategy has never aimed to defeat the U.S., but rather "to create a costly and politically painful invasion through asymmetric resistance, decentralized operations, guerrilla warfare, and mass mobilization."
U.S. intelligence reports that Cuba has 300 drones that could be launched against southern Florida in the event of a conflict.
This warning adds to a series of escalating statements from the regime: the Cuban ambassador in the U.S. warned on May 15 that Cuba "is preparing for this," and the ambassador in Mexico stated on April 21 that "many Cubans will fall, but Cuba's option is to resist."
While the regime issues warlike warnings, the Cuban people suffer blackouts of up to 25-30 hours a day, 96,000 postponed surgeries —11,000 of which are pediatric— and a humanitarian crisis that the UN has deemed alarming.
Axios reported this Sunday that the White House has contingency plans in place in case of a potential collapse of the Cuban government "as soon as this summer of 2026," with military simulation exercises already prepared.
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