The Cuban-American businessman and historian Omar Sixto dismisses any plan by the Havana regime that could pull the island out of its crisis, arguing that the only real solution involves a humanitarian intervention with a military component.
"None of the plans from the government of Cuba are going to work at all. That's why a humanitarian intervention is necessary, but it must have a military component. Those who would carry out the first wave must be the armies, and that’s why the Shield of the Americas was created," Sixto stated in an interview with CiberCuba.
Sixto, born in Havana 57 years ago and residing in Miami for three decades, points to the Shield of the Americas —the military coalition of 17 nations launched by Trump on March 7 in Doral, Florida— as the mechanism already established for potential action. “These are pieces that have been moving during this stage of silence,” he stated.
The businessman precisely outlines the scenario that, in his opinion, would trigger that response: "Those U.S. allied governments will participate if needed. The variable is that if it is necessary, the Cuban people will likely be protesting in the streets by then and the police will start to repress."
That trigger does not seem distant to him. "Cuban people will take to the streets at some point; that's something unstoppable. They are living worse than the Taínos today," he declared.
Their forecast is based on a documented reality: June 2026 recorded a record of 107 street protests in Cuba, nearly double the previous high, with Havana leading at 82 cases.
Sixto also completely rejects the 176 economic opening measures that the regime recently announced as its largest reform package in decades.
He granted an interview with El País, published on July 13, where he stated: "These are measures to buy time. For them, every day is a victory, but they won't work."
Regarding the role of the Cuban community abroad, Sixto outlines a concrete task for the phase following any intervention. “One thing we will have to do as Cubans is to get permission to rent boats in Miami to deliver humanitarian aid to Cuba, to the communities.”
Sixto is the author of the essay "The Fun is Over. The Cuban Economy: The Leap from Capitalism to Socialism (1959-1965)," published under the Horizonte Cubano imprint of Columbia University.
In that book, he argues that Cuba's current failure has its roots in the decisions made between 1959 and 1965, when, in his words, Fidel Castro "didn't just change the rules of the game; he completely changed the game."
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