Miguel Díaz-Canel openly laughed when Dominican journalist Roberto Cavada asked him about the 100 million dollars offered by Washington as aid to Cuba.
"It seems like a joke," replied the Cuban leader in an interview granted to the Corripio Communications Group on June 19, 2026, at the Palace of the Revolution, broadcasted on Wednesday by Telenoticias of the Dominican Republic.
The response summarizes the regime's position regarding an offer that, according to Díaz-Canel, has not disbursed a single cent. "Now he says that of those 100 million, none of which has arrived in Cuba yet, that those 100 million will not start to be distributed until after September. And why? We don't know. It seems they are making some time calculations about what will happen in Cuba," he stated.
The leader detailed that the government of the United States has made three offers of humanitarian aid to the island. The first, of three million dollars, was announced on October 25, 2025, and between 2.6 and 2.8 million of it was executed, benefiting approximately 8,000 Cuban families. The second, of six million, had not yet begun to be executed at the time of the interview. The third —the 100 million— remains undistributed.
Díaz-Canel denied reports from Washington asserting that Havana had rejected that last offer. "The Cuban government communicated to the United States government that it accepted the aid, even in writing," he emphasized.
One of the central arguments made by the ruler to label the proposal as contradictory was the exclusion of medicines and food. "It's hard to believe that if they want to help the Cuban people, and if two of the most urgently needed things due to their own policy of maximum pressure are medicines and food, why can't the aid include medicines and food?" he questioned.
The regime also put into perspective the magnitude of the figure. "The blockade causes Cuba annual losses, in the latest estimates, of over 5 billion. They come with 100 million," Díaz-Canel noted, describing the offer as "a farce" aimed at "creating an image" and "seeking a pretext to say that the blame lies with the Cuban government."
The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared in May that "the Cuban people must know that there are 100 million dollars in food and medicine available for them right now, and the only reason it is not reaching them is the Cuban regime." The offer, formalized on May 13, 2026, is conditional on the distribution being carried out by the Catholic Church through Caritas and independent non-governmental organizations, without state mediation.
The interview also addressed the energy crisis that Cuba is facing, which Díaz-Canel acknowledged as devastating. He stated that in the last six months, only one fuel tanker— the Russian ship—arrived, which allowed for 15 days of improved electrical conditions. The private sector, authorized to import fuel, has managed to bring in just 40,000 tons, equivalent to just one ship of the many that the island needs each month.
Regarding the 176 approved economic measures on June 19, Díaz-Canel rejected the idea that they were a concession to external pressures. «Trump does not control Cuba, nor does the US government control Cuba. Cuba is sovereign,» he declared, emphasizing that these are «very Cuban solutions, completely Cuban.»
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