While millions of Cubans have been without electricity for weeks and the country is facing a critical fuel shortage, the regime flooded social media on Thursday and Friday with images of tanks, drones, and elite snipers deployed in the Moncada Strategic Exercise 2026, a national military maneuver presented as a demonstration of "combat readiness."
The state channel Canal Caribe broadcast a video in which a unit of the Special Troops Mobile Brigade "Order Antonio Maceo" —commonly known as the Black Wasps— simulated the "annihilation of the enemy" in a scenario that combined reconnaissance drones, snipers with the Cuban-made Mambí rifle (caliber 12.7 mm), and urban combat.
According to the transcript of the video broadcast by Canal Caribe, an unmanned drone located the "landed enemy" and provided images to assess their forces, after which the fighters advanced to “advantageous positions” to accomplish the mission. The "final blow" was delivered by a mobile fire group with heavier weapons coordinated with the infantry.
"The special troops of our country remain active and will continue to defend the people and advance our revolution," declared one of the fighters before the camera.
In parallel, the Great Tank Unit "Rescue of Sanguily" conducted its own tactical exercises with a tank company, mechanized infantry, RPG-7 rocket launchers, PKM machine guns, and artillery support, embodying what the regime terms the doctrine of "War of the Whole People."
The exercise was announced on Wednesday by Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, under the slogan "The War of All the People: Guarantee of Victory." Díaz-Canel personally oversaw the preparations in Artemisa, where Gladys Martínez Verdecia, member of the Political Bureau, summed up the rationale behind the operation with a phrase that the regime repeated across multiple platforms: "We prepare for war because it is the best way we have to win it."
This Friday, declared National Defense Day, General Roberto Legrá Sotolongo, Chief of the General Staff, stated that Cuba would defend the country "house by house, neighborhood by neighborhood".
The contrast with the everyday reality of Cubans is hard to ignore. The Electric Union reported this Friday a supply of only 1,000 MW against a demand of 2,350 MW, with a projected deficit of up to 1,770 MW during peak hours. Some circuits had accumulated over 52 consecutive hours without power supply. By the end of October, the generation deficit exceeded 2,000 MW for three consecutive days.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged that Cuba will not have sufficient fuel "in the short term," and the airports remain without aviation fuel. For the fuel, there is no solution in sight; however, resources appear for military exercises.
The Special Troops celebrate this year four decades since their formal establishment in December 1986, and the regime presents them as a "pillar in the defense of the country," ready for the "forceful use of their weaponry." For the majority of Cubans, however, the most immediate enemy does not come by sea or air: it arrives with each new blackout.
Filed under: