Miguel Díaz-Canel provided this Sunday public arguments for one of the central theses of the recent report from the United States Department of State regarding Cuba.
The document, titled «Cuba: the capital of 21st century communism», asserts that the Havana regime does not limit its political project to the borders of the island, but actively seeks to project its ideology and influence through leftist movements and organizations in other countries.
In his speech before representatives of communist and workers' parties gathered in Havana, Díaz-Canel did not limit his appeal to asking for solidarity with Cuba. He made a clear call to deepen international coordination and turn it into concrete political actions.
The moment demands more than just statements of principles. It requires a qualitative leap in our international articulation and coordination, he stated.
According to the leader, the communist and workers' parties have the «historical duty» to «weave a network of effective solidarity» that goes beyond statements, but translates into «concrete actions».
In what actions? Díaz-Canel himself listed them.
He called for the use of digital platforms to "break the media blockade," mobilize "parliaments, unions, and social movements" in support of the Cuban regime and strengthen mechanisms of cooperation between countries and organizations.
He also called to "build popular power at the grassroots" and to "take over the streets, neighborhoods, factories, and schools".
“Unity is not uniformity; unity is the will to fight and to win together”, he proclaimed.
Organize, politicize, and mobilize
Díaz-Canel was even more explicit when defining the role that, in his opinion, communist and labor parties in other countries should assume.
He stated that they are called to play a "vanguard role," not only in the electoral or institutional realm, but "above all" in the "organization, politicization, and mobilization of the working class."
The leader also called to "strengthen the unity of the international communist movement" in the face of what he described as a "common enemy: imperialism, fascism, and monopolistic capital."
And he added another particularly significant objective: "Deepen political and ideological work, challenge cultural hegemony, and confront the disinformation machinery that seeks to present capitalism as the only possible horizon".
It is not, therefore, solely about international solidarity with Cuba.
The head of the regime is openly proposing a strategy for coordination among communist forces to organize and mobilize social sectors, intervene in the cultural and communication battle, and exert influence over unions, movements, and parliaments in different countries.
The Washington Report
The statements are particularly significant just weeks after the State Department published the report "Cuba: the Capital of 21st Century Communism," a document of about 100 pages that portrays the Cuban regime as an actor that has, for decades, developed networks of espionage, propaganda, infiltration, and political influence beyond its borders.
The report asserts that Havana played an important role for decades in revolutionary and far-left movements in the Western Hemisphere and pays special attention to Cuban influence within the United States.
Washington states that this strategy has evolved over time from supporting revolutionary movements and militant organizations to political, ideological, and social networks adapted to Western democracies.
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio summarized this thesis by accusing the Cuban regime of having built a «network of intelligence and ideology» historically linked to radical movements both within and outside the United States.
The report has also faced criticism. Leftist American organizations mentioned in the document have rejected the accusations and assert that their political positions are their own and do not respond to instructions from the Cuban government.
Analysts have similarly questioned Washington's mixing of ideological ties, political solidarity, and Cuban influence with much more serious accusations of infiltration or subversion.
Díaz-Canel’s speech does not, in itself, demonstrate those recent accusations.
But it does confirm something hard to deny: Havana views the organization and coordination of foreign communist forces as part of its own international political strategy.
The contradiction with "psychological warfare"
There is also a particularly striking contradiction.
In the same speech, Díaz-Canel accused the United States of conducting a "psychological war against Cuba" through "digital subversion," "media discrediting campaigns," and "influence networks."
However, shortly after, he asked his international allies to precisely expand their coordination, utilize digital platforms, mobilize unions and social movements, act on parliaments, and challenge the "cultural hegemony".
The regime denounces as interference and subversion external actions aimed at influencing Cuba, while claims as international solidarity the organization of foreign political forces to defend its positions and promote a common ideological agenda.
That double standard becomes even more evident when Díaz-Canel calls for international communist coordination to go beyond statements and be transformed into "concrete actions".
From Havana to the world
For decades, the Cuban regime has portrayed accusations of its international influence as U.S. propaganda aimed at justifying a hostile policy against the island.
But this time it is not Washington describing what international communist movements should do. It is Díaz-Canel himself.
"Coordinate actions," "weave a network," "mobilize" unions and social movements, "take to the streets," "organize," "politicize," "contest cultural hegemony," and strengthen "the unity of the international communist movement" are expressions publicly spoken by the Cuban leader.
That does not prove that every foreign leftist organization responds to Havana, but it makes it much harder to maintain that the international ideological projection of the Cuban regime is simply a fabrication of Washington.
Díaz-Canel has just described it from Havana and, instead of hiding it, he has called for deepening it, coordinating it, and turning it into action.
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