Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Tuesday that the United States would face “unyielding resistance” if it tried to take control of the island nation as authorities scramble to resolve a widespread power outage. “In the face of the worst-case scenario, Cuba has one certainty: any external aggressor will encounter unyielding resistance,” he wrote on the X network. TASR reports on this based on a report by AFP.
- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned the United States against unyielding armed resistance.
- Donald Trump has announced that he will take Cuba and is preparing concrete steps.
Díaz-Canel’s response came after US President Donald Trump, increasing pressure on the Caribbean country, declared on Monday that he would “take” it, adding that “soon we will do something with Cuba.”
Increasing US pressure
Havana is resisting increasing pressure as Washington enforces an oil blockade against it and openly says it wants to end nearly seven decades of confrontation with one (communist) party rule.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Cuba’s decision to allow exiles to invest and own businesses in the country is not enough to implement the free market reforms demanded by the Trump administration. “It will not solve the problem. They have to make big decisions,” said the head of diplomacy.
Cuba refuses to change the system
Cuba is open to broader negotiations with the United States and greater investment, but refuses to discuss changing its political system, Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba’s deputy ambassador to Washington, said Tuesday. “Nothing about our political system — our constitutional model — is part of the negotiations and never will be,” she said. “The only thing Cuba demands in any talks is respect for our sovereignty and right to self-determination.”
Citing unnamed US officials, The New York Times (NYT) reported that the Trump administration had called for the removal of Díaz-Canel, who is seen as an opponent of the changes.
Crisis and sanctions
The Cuban government accuses Trump of trying to destroy the country’s economy. It has been subject to US sanctions since 1962 and is struggling with a large-scale economic crisis accompanied by long-term power outages, fuel, medicine and food shortages.
