Miguel Díaz-Canel dedicated this Friday to touring the Carmelo Defense Zone in the Havana neighborhood of Vedado to assess the preparations for what the regime refers to as a possible "exceptional situation."
The state agency ACN reported that the visit is part of the "Year of Preparation for Defense 2026," a campaign of nearly weekly military exercises that the regime has maintained since January under the doctrine of "Total People's War."
Accompanied by the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, General Álvaro López Miera, and General José Amado Ricardo Guerra, Secretary of the Council of Ministers, Díaz-Canel toured the command post of the area, located at the Office of Historical Affairs in Vedado.
There, he stated that the Defense Zone "must be the Party and the Government of each community, both in times of peace and in war," and added that "this is warranted by the complex context that Cuba is experiencing."
The president insisted on moving from theoretical plans to practical implementation. He ordered regular tactical exercises that include the protection of vulnerable groups, prior knowledge of shelters by residents, and the establishment of a network of observation points in each district to guide the population.
He also took the opportunity to link the economic reforms approved days earlier by the National Assembly with military preparedness, indicating that the Defense Councils should act without waiting for new instructions.
"It is necessary to engage with all economic actors to see how we can organize and set them in motion, developing strong, coordinated, and coherent local production systems."
Jorge Luis Aneiros Alonso, president of the Defense Zone of Carmelo —which encompasses about 19,000 people— detailed the certification of shelters in basements, semi-basements, and tunnels in the area.
Since January, Díaz-Canel has led military exercises almost every Saturday. He oversaw maneuvers in San José de Las Lajas on February 28, visited the Western Army's General Staff on March 13, headed the eleventh National Defense Day in Habana del Este on March 30, and repeated the scene in the Santa Fe Defense Zone just a week earlier, hours after announcing economic reforms.
In April, the government distributed a "Family Guide for Protection Against Military Aggression" with instructions on how to prepare emergency backpacks and locate shelters, which generated widespread sarcasm on social media.
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