Donald Trump turned the world's foremost multilateral forum into a platform to predict the end of the Cuban regime, describing the island as a “totally failed state” during his speech at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
Although it is not the first time he has said something similar, it is the first time that Trump has made similar statements from the highest multilateral forum in the world, with the Cuban delegation present in the room.
While the U.S. president was speaking about Cuba, the island's delegation left the room in protest.
Trump was direct with the world leaders gathered in New York:
"My administration also seeks a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba, where the communist regime is under immense pressure, the greatest pressure it has ever faced. It is an utterly failed state. And it will fall."
He also added that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is conducting active negotiations with Havana.
"Marco Rubio is leading the negotiations. We'll see what happens. We will not allow a paradise for foreign adversaries to threaten the U.S. at our doorstep," he noted.
The U.S. president concluded his remarks on Cuba with a promise: “Communism will never reach America, but freedom will come to Cuba, and security will come to Mexico.”
Accusations of subversion and ties to radical groups
Trump also made a far-reaching accusation against the regime, linking it to influence networks within the United States itself.
"The Cuban regime has also spent decades coordinating with leftist radicals and communist networks here in the United States. As our State Department has detailed, they have cultivated ties with subversive and radical groups such as the Communist Party of the U.S., Antifa, and the Democratic Socialists of America," he stated.
These statements are based on a report from the State Department published in July, which accuses the regime of maintaining networks of espionage and ideological subversion on U.S. soil for decades.
The chancellor Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, who leads the delegation from Havana, had denied at the beginning of September that there are formal negotiations with Washington, although he acknowledged that both governments maintain some channels of contact.
Rodríguez Parrilla is scheduled to speak before the General Assembly on Friday, September 26, during which the Cuban regime is expected to officially respond to Trump's remarks.
A pressure that builds up throughout 2026
The Trump administration implemented more than two dozen sanctions against Cuba since January, including measures against entities in the military and nickel sectors announced just days before the speech.
The economic crisis worsens the situation: according to CEPAL, the Cuban economy is expected to contract by 10.3% in 2026, the worst decline in Latin America, with power outages of up to 22 hours a day and an annual inflation rate of 20.70% in July.
The Cuban government accuses the United States of applying what it calls a "genocidal blockade," estimating the losses resulting from the sanctions at $8.1 billion during 2025.
The statements about Cuba were part of a segment dedicated to the Western Hemisphere, in which Trump also defended his government's actions in Venezuela —including the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January 2026— and the oil agreement with the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez.
"Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer allow threats to gain ground anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, and if necessary, we will use our unmatched military power to ensure the vital national interests of the United States," he warned.
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