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Miguel Díaz-Canel granted an exclusive interview to journalist Yalda Hakim from the British channel Sky News, recorded in Havana, to directly respond to the latest statements made by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Cuba.
The interview takes place one day after Trump stated in North Dakota that Cuba, "after many, many decades, is coming toward us", in a speech delivered during the inauguration of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora.
Díaz-Canel categorically rejected those statements and affirmed that the Island poses no danger to anyone: "We are a peaceful country. We are not a threat to anyone. We offer a great deal of solidarity to the world. Cuba is not a nation in conflict. We are not a colony. We will not relinquish our sovereignty or our independence."
The Cuban leader described the constant pressure from Washington as a psychological wear-down operation: "The threats, the constant rhetoric about an aggression against our country by the United States government, the nearly daily expressions that are part of a strategy of media poisoning and psychological warfare to intimidate our nation and destabilize our society, are an outrage and an affront to the dignity of our people."
His most striking statement summarized the regime's stance in the face of a potential conflict: "We do not want war, but we are not afraid of it. And we are preparing so that we are not taken by surprise or defeated."
Hakim reminded him that Trump has acted militarily when he has threatened other countries, such as Venezuela and Iran, and asked him if he was taking the possibility of intervention in Cuba seriously.
The dictator responded bluntly: "We are ready to fight to the last drop of blood to defend our rights, our independence, our sovereignty, and our achievements."
Regarding the credibility of the Trump administration, he was equally blunt: “I believe that the current representatives of the United States government have been telling many lies. They have heavily manipulated public opinion internationally.”
Díaz-Canel added that there are "possibilities for dialogue," although he warned that Cuba's trust in Washington is low following the actions of the Trump administration in Venezuela and Iran, as Hakim herself reported on her social media.
The Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez expressed himself along the same lines: “Of course, any threat must be taken seriously and that is why we prepare to defend our independence and sovereignty in the event of aggression, but we will always act solely in legitimate defense.”
The interview comes at a time of heightened tension between the two countries not seen in decades. Since January, the Trump administration has imposed over 240 sanctions against Cuba, including some personal sanctions against Díaz-Canel himself, his wife Lis Cuesta, and Colonel Alejandro Castro Espín.
The United States also maintains a significant naval presence in the Caribbean, with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz strike group and the USS Kearsarge, which has approximately 2,500 Marines on board, as well as amphibious ships relocated off the northern coast of Cuba since January.
Sanctions have reduced the Island's energy imports by between 80% and 90%, leading to blackouts of up to 35 hours a day and a projected economic contraction of between -6.5% and -7.2% for 2026, a crisis that directly affects the daily lives of Cubans.
This is the second major international interview granted by Díaz-Canel in 2026 and the first to a European media outlet. The previous one was with Kristen Welker from NBC News on April 9, considered the first appearance of a Cuban leader on U.S. television since 1959.
Cuba has called for an extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly on July 7th to denounce the tightening of the U.S. embargo.
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