Miguel Díaz-Canel published a defiant message on his social media this Monday aimed at Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, following statements from both U.S. officials about the future of the Cuban regime: "The future of Cuba will never be decided in the north," wrote the Cuban leader.
The message arrived hours after Trump referred to Cuba as a "failed nation" and predicted that it would "fall quite soon," and after Rubio, participating in the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris, promised that Washington will continue to push for change on the island because "it is a priority."
Díaz-Canel invoked January 1, 1959, as the date when, according to him, Cuba established that its destiny would not be determined from the north, warning that this stance "will not change no matter how twisted the Yankee plans are to try to subdue us."
In his post, the Cuban leader referred to the energy restrictions imposed by Washington as a "criminal fuel blockade" and described them as "collective punishment" for the Cuban people, accusing the Trump administration of failing to take responsibility for that damage.
"It is perverse not to take responsibility for the collective punishment to which the Cuban people are subjected, with a criminal blockade of fuels and a sickly pursuit of anything that contributes to their development and material well-being," wrote Díaz-Canel.
The ruler also accused Washington of trying to justify what he called a "genocide" to the American people and the rest of the world, although he claimed that "fewer and fewer people believe them."
The verbal exchange occurs in a context of sustained escalation. On November 5, the State Department announced sanctions against a maritime network linked to the transportation of Cuban oil, designating eight entities, two individuals, and five vessels as blocked property.
Two days later, Díaz-Canel had already responded to those sanctions with a "They will not break us!", describing them as "economic suffocation" and "collective punishment."
Rubio was emphatic in stating that the U.S. embargo "is established by law and requires political freedom in order to be lifted," and accused GAESA, the business conglomerate of the Cuban Armed Forces, of "stealing from the Cuban people the little they have."
The Secretary of State also warned about the consequences of the Cuban model, stating that "this model does not work and the only thing it has caused is for millions of people to leave Cuba, many of them heading to the United States," and described the instability of the island as a threat to U.S. national security.
Rubio also reiterated Washington's commitment to change in Cuba with a direct warning to the regime: "Ultimately, our goal is for Cuba to have a better future. We will do everything we can to help guide it toward that future, but in the end, it will be necessary for them to awaken and understand that there is no future on the path they are currently following."
Díaz-Canel concluded his post with the hashtag #CubaNoEsUnaAmenaza and the phrase "the blockade is," in a rhetoric that the regime repeats every time Washington intensifies its pressure, while the Cuban people endure an unprecedented energy, food, and migration crisis that has not been seen in decades.
Filed under: