The President of the United States, Donald Trump, again referred to Cuba in a speech delivered this Wednesday, stating that the island "is moving closer to our orbit." This claim sparked a wave of skeptical comments among Cubans both inside and outside the country, many of whom are tired of hearing promises without seeing concrete changes.
The U.S. president made the statement during the inauguration of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, while recalling the Spanish-American War of 1898 and Roosevelt's role in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
"Shortly after they surrendered control of Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, all of them were ours. And speaking of Cuba, after many, many decades, it is coming toward us, coming toward us," Trump stated, according to the agency EFE.
The official did not explain what he meant by that supposed rapprochement nor did he announce any new measures related to the island.
The phrase, however, provoked a swift reaction on social media, where skepticism prevailed. Many users recalled that Trump has been making similar statements for months without any of the political change that many Cubans had hoped for.
"Just tell the story! Enough with the nonsense," wrote an internet user. Another commented, "Stop the talk, it's been the same promise since January." A third person joked, "For season 12 of this series, Cuba is still coming."
Others related the president's words to the daily reality on the island. "Yes, it's noticeable. There are places with 90 hours of blackout," wrote one user. "Blah, blah... and in the meantime, we continue living in hell," summarized another.
There were also those who compared Trump's speech to that of the Cuban regime itself. "He's like Díaz-Canel: lots of talk and few results," commented one user, while another described his statements as "electoral hot air."
The disbelief reflects the weariness caused by months of similar messages. Since the beginning of the year, Trump has asserted on several occasions that Cuba holds a priority place in his policy towards the hemisphere and has hinted that, once other international fronts are resolved, the island will be among his next targets.
In parallel, its administration has consistently intensified pressure on Havana through sanctions targeting high-ranking officials, state-owned enterprises, and strategic sectors such as energy, measures that have coincided with the worsening economic crisis and the prolonged blackouts affecting the country.
From Havana, Miguel Díaz-Canel has repeatedly rejected that policy and has insisted that “Trump does not command in Cuba, nor does the U.S. government command in Cuba. Cuba is sovereign.”
Among the many reactions to the speech, one captured the feelings of many Cubans: "These are not siren songs; they are the chatter of parrots, squawking every day," wrote a user, reflecting the growing disconnect between the expectations created by such statements and the reality that the Cuban population continues to experience.
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