Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the Municipal Defense Councils of Old Havana, Arroyo Naranjo, and La Lisa, amid rising tensions with the Trump administration.
The Presidency of Cuba framed the visits within "the complex situation the country is experiencing due to the severe effects of the intensification of the blockade and the oil embargo that has already surpassed six months," using the usual propagandistic language to evade the responsibility of the regime itself in the crisis.
The exchanges with the capital's Defense Councils began on June 30, and by the end of this day, they have only covered nine of the fifteen municipalities in the capital.
In the meetings, topics such as water supply, energy generation, waste collection, and care for retirees and vulnerable individuals were discussed, issues that the regime attributes to the U.S. embargo but which are a direct consequence of 67 years of failed economic management.
The regime has been conducting military exercises every Saturday since January under the doctrine of the "War of All the People", training civilians with AK-47 rifles, drones, and anti-tank mines, as part of the "Year of Preparation for Defense" declared in January 2026.
Díaz-Canel himself inspected the plans for the "War of All the People" in the Cerro municipality on July 12, and in June he warned that if Washington attacks, there will be a "decisive and firm combat."
The official narrative aims to project an image of administrative normalcy while the regime mobilizes its defense structures in response to external pressure that it itself acknowledges as the most severe in decades.
At the end of Thursday's visits, Díaz-Canel "called to continue facing the difficult situation the country is going through with optimism, confident in victory," while millions of Cubans endure blackouts of over twenty hours and have empty plates.
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