Brigadier General Arthur J. Garffer, Secretary of Public Safety of Puerto Rico, issued a strong warning to the Cuban regime in an exclusive interview with Telemundo 51 recorded at the Roosevelt Roads Airbase in Ceiba.
The interview, conducted by journalist Marilys Llanos, left no room for ambiguity.
“Cuba is warned. Cuba is very close to being liberated”, stated Garffer, in comments that circulated this Wednesday and generated significant response among the Cuban community.
Garffer even ventured to suggest that July 26 could be a possible date for the overthrow of Díaz-Canel's government.
On the symbolic date of July 26 -National Rebellion Day, which commemorates the attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953- the general expressed a concrete expectation:
"I think it would be tremendous if some kind of overthrow of this communist dictatorial regime were to happen beforehand or on the same day."
And he assessed the current moment directly: “Given what we are seeing publicly, I understand that the end of the Castro, Díaz-Canel, and their henchmen dictatorial communist regime is already approaching.”
"Go to Russia, China, or North Korea."
Garffer even directed a direct message to the leaders of the regime: offering them what is referred to in military terminology as "voluntary exits."
“They are being given several opportunities to go to Russia, to go to China, to go to North Korea, those countries they adore, so they should just go there,” he declared.
However, he warned that this window is not indefinite:
"If they do not take that opportunity, there is what is called a decision point, which the administration already has."
In a sentence summarizing the military command's stance, he declared: “Options for Cuba are running out. The military is waiting for the order.”
"A false machismo"
When asked how the situation in Cuba might end, the general dismissed the regime's apparent firmness with a historical comparison.
"We are seeing a lot of the same rhetoric from Díaz-Canel that Maduro used, that Ayatollah Khamenei used in Iran, that Raúl Cedrás used in Haiti in the 90s and 2000s, which is a false machismo." he stated.
"At this moment, in this diplomatic negotiation, the United States holds all the cards," he added emphatically.
Operations underway since July 2025
Garffer revealed that military preparation is not recent:
"This is something that has been underway since July or August of last year, conducting what is called a shaping operation. In other words, we are laying our cards on the table to be able to carry out operations."
The Roosevelt Roads base, with a runway of 11,000 feet, was closed in 2004 and reactivated by the Trump administration.
From there, the planes and helicopters that participated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of 2026 took off.
In later statements, the general also provided context for the visit that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made to Guantanamo Naval Base this Wednesday:
"This is part of what the Secretary of War's visit represents, sending a strong and clear message on U.S. soil, but in Cuba, that the blockade and avenues of negotiation will come to an end one way or another."
Hegseth warned from Guantanamo that the Department of Defense was "prepared and positioned for any possible eventuality."
This scenario occurs in the context of a growing U.S. military presence in the Caribbean, with over 1,300 Marines deployed in the region since late May, and following the federal indictment of Raúl Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996, which prompted Secretary of State Marco Rubio to declare him a "fugitive from justice".
July 26, a date marked by Garffer as a potential milestone, is one of the most symbolically significant days for the Cuban regime, and could become, according to the general, the beginning of the end of more than six decades of dictatorship on the island.
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