Miguel Díaz-Canel took advantage of the conclusion of the third broadcast of his radio program Criterio Compartido, aired this Wednesday on Radio Rebelde, to criticize the Cuban political prisoners who had recently denounced the regime's repression to international delegations at the United Nations headquarters, labeling them as "convicted criminals" and "terrorists."
The moment was introduced by journalist Bárbara Betancourt, who stated that she did not want to "overlook" the upcoming vote in the UN regarding the embargo. What followed, as seen in the program itself, was a segment in which Díaz-Canel read almost entirely from prepared cards, in direct contradiction to the supposedly spontaneous and citizen-driven tone that the space aims to project.
The target of their attacks was the forum "Cuba Libre: The Oppression That Havana Hides," organized on October 19 by U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz at the UN headquarters, with participation from José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, among others. Díaz-Canel described it as "a clandestine meeting with a panel funded by the State Department, also composed of convicted criminals or individuals with ties to terrorist organizations."
The irony of the argument is hard to ignore: the "convicted criminals" referred to are precisely individuals imprisoned by the very regime that now uses those sentences to discredit them. Ferrer, founder of UNPACU, was released and expelled to Miami in October 2025 after more than four years in prison; Otero Alcántara served a five-year sentence for "offending national symbols" and was expelled from Cuba in July 2026.
Regarding Gutiérrez-Boronat, co-founder of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, Díaz-Canel labeled him a “terrorist and scammer,” but the only evidence he provided was that “the chancellor Bruno himself has pointed out” this condition and that he appears on “the national list of individuals linked to terrorism compiled by the Cuban government.” In other words, the regime cites itself as proof. Chancellor Bruno Rodríguez had used the same language on Tuesday, calling Ferrer a “delinquent” and Otero a “circus artist” in a press conference.
Gutiérrez-Boronat responded emphatically on Wednesday: "I am not a terrorist because I did not come to power by planting bombs," and denied the allegations of misappropriation of federal funds, asserting that neither he nor the Directory were under investigation by any U.S. federal agency. There is no public criminal accusation to support what Díaz-Canel presented as a fact.
Otero Alcántara, for his part, described the act of repudiation that Cuban diplomats conducted at the UN on October 19 —shouting "terrorists" and "liars" at the panelists— as a reflection of the repression he experienced in Cuba: "Imagine those people roaming free in Havana. Imagine those people having the full freedom to enter your home, even to be able to hit you."
The background of this entire verbal offensive is the vote scheduled for October 27 and 28 in the UN General Assembly on the Cuban resolution against the embargo. In 2025, that resolution suffered a historic decline: it went from 187 votes in favor in 2024 to 165, with seven votes against and twelve abstentions. Díaz-Canel himself admitted on the program that “there are people who will change their vote because they are intimidated by the pressures from the United States,” a confession that reveals the fragility of the Cuban position before the international community.
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