Miguel Díaz-Canel reaffirmed this Friday that Cuba has "the determination to reject any attempt of foreign military aggression" and that the regime is actively preparing for that scenario, in direct response to the statements made by President Donald Trump, who stated on Thursday that he would "certainly consider" a brief military campaign against the island.
The Cuban leader made these statements during a training session of the Zone Defense Council (CDZ) Boyeros, in the Havana municipality of the same name, according to the official website of the Cuban Presidency, as part of National Defense Day.
Díaz-Canel directly linked the intensification of the regime's military preparations to what he termed the "reiterated threat rhetoric" coming from Washington, indicating that this pressure has prompted Havana to "activate wartime structures to operate in peacetime."
Trump's words on Wednesday were the most direct to date: he described Cuba as "essentially a failed place, a failed nation" and declared that he wants to "finish with Cuba" before his term ends, pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a key figure in handling the matter.
This Friday, the spokesperson for the Department of State, Tommy Pigott, institutionally supported these statements by asserting on Fox News that having a "failed state" off the coast of the United States "poses a direct threat to the national security of the United States."
Pigott also attributed the humanitarian crisis on the island to the "incompetence of the regime," which he described as "incompetent communists," and announced that Washington has offered 100 million dollars in humanitarian assistance for Cuba, contingent upon it reaching the population directly through independent verification mechanisms.
In Boyeros, Díaz-Canel was joined by key figures of the power apparatus: Esteban Lazo Hernández, President of the National Assembly; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Communist Party; and Generals Álvaro López Miera and Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, Ministers of the FAR and MININT, respectively.
The Cuban leader invoked the Moncada Strategic Exercise 2026, held on November fourth and fifth, as a demonstration of the regime's defensive capabilities, and emphasized the weekly training sessions in defense zones throughout the country.
The Boyeros area, with over 29,000 inhabitants and approximately 15 square kilometers, is home to strategic facilities such as José Martí Airport and must operate 36 production and defense brigades in the event of a conflict.
In his speech, Díaz-Canel also demanded an end to the U.S. embargo and described Washington's pressures as "genocidal aggression," while appealing to the recent UN vote on the Cuban resolution against the embargo as evidence of international support.
The rhetorical escalation occurs in a context of growing tension accumulated throughout 2026. The Cuban representative to the UN acknowledged last week the "unmatched" military disadvantage of the island — about 50,000 troops compared to 1.3 million U.S. soldiers — although he stated that Havana takes the possibility of an operation "very seriously."
In May, Díaz-Canel had already warned delegates from 36 countries about "the imminence of a military aggression" and invoked the doctrine of the War of All the People, declaring that "every Cuban woman and every Cuban man has a rifle."
"Cuba is a peaceful nation, a country that offers solidarity... and therefore does not pose a threat to the national security of any country in the world," Díaz-Canel insisted this Friday, in a speech that blended defensive rhetoric with a call for Washington to "end the collective punishment it maintains against the Cuban people."
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