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miguel diaz-canel
Tens of Thousands Rally in Havana Against US Aggression as Cuba Prepares Citizens for War
“Here we are prepared to fight imperialism," said Cuban lawmaker Mariela Castro, daughter of Raúl Castro. "Cuba is a small and poor country, but one with experience confronting US imperialism."
May 22, 2026
Tens of thousands of Cubans rallied Friday in Havana to denounce the Trump administration's indictment of former President Raúl Castro and threats to attack the island nation, whose socialist government has been preparing its citizens to defend their homeland and revolution against US aggression.
“No disrespect is shown to the heroes of the homeland!" Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said as people flooded the streets outside the US Embassy in Havana. "History and traditions are not insulted without a response! That does not happen in Cuba!"
The massive rally followed Wednesday's US Department of Justice indictment of revolutionary hero Raúl Castro, who served as president for a decade after his older brother, Fidel Castro, stepped down in 2008. The DOJ indicted Castro for his alleged role in the 1996 shoot-down of planes operated by the counterrevolutionary group Brothers to the Rescue after repeated warnings that they had violated Cuban airspace.
Rallying under the slogan "Raúl is Raúl"—originally popularized during the transitional period of rule between the Castros to highlight the younger brother's reforms—Cubans vowed to defend their revolution in the face of the latest US threats.
“This new aggression has united us more and elevated the honor, dignity, and anti-imperialist spirit of a people already recognized around the world for their brave resistance to any form of subordination to the empire,” Díaz-Canel said.
Cuban legislator Mariela Castro, Raúl's granddaughter, told rallygoers that “we are prepared for combat."
"No one is going to kidnap him. I can assure you of that," she said, alluding to the US invasion and abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on dubious narco-terrorism charges earlier this year. "Neither him nor anyone else."
"My father is very calm, watching and smiling,” Castro added. "Here, we are prepared to fight imperialism. Cuba is a small and poor country, but one with experience confronting US imperialism. We know that as long as there is an anti-imperialist revolution, there will be a gigantic and ruthless enemy."
Critics noted the hypocrisy of the Castro indictment, given the ongoing illegal US bombing of boats that the Trump administration claims—without providing evidence—were smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
“Washington has no moral authority to judge anyone,” Gerardo Hernández, coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, said, referring to the boat-bombing campaign, which has killed nearly 200 people in close to 60 reported attacks. “Cuba is a people of peace and reaffirms its legitimate right to self-defense."
"Cuba does not constitute a threat to US security," he continued. "On the contrary, Cuba is a state under attack by the United States."
Observers have pointed to the decadeslong US-backed campaign of anti-Castro terrorism against the Cuban people, including the 1976 bombing of Cubana Flight 455, a commercial airliner with 73 people aboard, including 11 Guyanese nationals and 24 teenage members of Cuba's junior Olympic fencing team. Perpetrators of the attack enjoyed safe haven in the United States, mainly in Miami, where the city celebrated a day in honor of one of the bombing's alleged masterminds.
“The Cuban people reaffirm the unwavering decision to defend their homeland and revolution," Hernández added. "With the greatest determination, they reaffirm their absolute and firm support for Army General Raúl Castro."
Mariela Castro said that "my family, like all Cuban families, is waiting for instructions to know where we need to go" in the event of a US attack.
As US Secretary of State Marco Rubio—whose parents immigrated to the United States from Cuba during the US-backed dictatorship that preceded the Castro-led revolution—said Thursday that the chances of a "negotiated and peaceful agreement" with Havana are "not high," Deputy Cuban Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío acknowledged that his country is preparing for war, asserting that "we would be naive not to."
Cuban officials have been circulating a pamphlet titled a “Family Guide for Protection Against Military Aggression." The publication warns that the US is preparing "to launch a military assault and destroy our society with the aim of perpetuating capitalism... and annihilating the dream of our Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro.”
The pamphlet instructs Cubans to pack survival kits and seek shelter in the event of air-raid alerts. It also contains life-saving first aid instructions.
“Should the enemy attack, our Revolution will defend itself until victory is achieved and the aggressor is expelled," the pamphlet states.
US President Donald Trump recently tightened the internationally condemned 65-year US economic embargo on Cuba, imposing a fuel blockade that has exacerbated an energy emergency characterized by blackouts and deadly suffering among the most vulnerable Cubans, including sick people and children.
Last month, Trump said that “we may stop by Cuba after we’re finished" with the illegal US-Israeli war of choice against Iran. The president has also stated he believes he’ll “be having the honor of taking Cuba,” language echoing the 19th-century US imperialists who conquered the island along with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain in another war waged on dubious pretense.
“Whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want,” Trump said of the island and its 11 million inhabitants.
BreakThrough News interviewed Havana residents earlier this week about the specter of US attack.
"We Cubans have to protect ourselves," elderly Havana resident Juan Hernández said. "We're not going to hand any Cuban over to a foreigner, because that would be immoral. It would be treason."
Hernández accused the US of "provocation" in order to "justify invading the country," adding "that would only lead to bloodshed on both sides."
"Besides," he added, "Cuba isn't a threat to them at all. What does Cuba have? Do we have atomic bombs? Do we have anything? We have nothing."
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Cuba President Decries ‘Collective Punishment’ by US as ‘Act of Genocide’
"We will continue to denounce, in the firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people," said President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
May 19, 2026
Cuba's president said Monday night that the Trump administration should be "criminally prosecuted" for its continued economic war on the island nation, saying the oil blockade that began more than three months ago as well as new sanctions are part of a "collective punishment" policy that amounts to an "act of genocide."
President Miguel Díaz-Canel suggested that the White House was aware that its latest round of sanctions against Cuban officials was unnecessary, noting that "there isn’t even any evidence to present"—but said the new measures announced by the State Department on Monday were a way of furthering "anti-Cuban rhetoric of hate... to justify the escalation of its total economic war."
"Under the leadership of our party, state, government, and its military institutions, no one has any assets or property to protect under US jurisdiction. The US government knows this full well," said Díaz-Canel. "That’s why we will continue to denounce, in the firmest and most energetic way possible, the genocidal siege that seeks to strangle our people."
Díaz-Canel spoke out after the administration said it was imposing sanctions on the Cuban intelligence agency and nine Cuban officials, including the country's ministers for communications, energy, and justice, and three military generals. Several officials in the Communist Party of Cuba were also sanctioned.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants and has long pushed for regime change in the communist country, released a statement saying those targeted by the sanctions "are responsible for or have been involved in repressing the Cuban people."
"These sanctions advance the Trump administration’s comprehensive campaign to address the pressing national security threats posed by Cuba’s communist regime," said Rubio.
The sanctions were announced a day after a White House official claimed to Axios that Cuban officials are "discussing plans" for drone attacks on the US; the outlet acknowledged several paragraphs into its article on the alleged threat that Cuba is believed to be strategizing for a defensive attack as the US ramps up hostilities, rather than an unprovoked strike.
Díaz-Canel emphasized that the White House's sanctions are only the latest action taken against Cuba following the "immoral, illegal, and criminal" executive order President Donald Trump signed in January, which threatened countries with tariffs if they provided fuel to Cuba—resulting in a severe energy shortage on the island, frequent rolling blackouts, and a crisis in the country's healthcare system, with hospitals struggling to offer basic services. Farmers have said the shortage has left them unable to efficiently provide food to communities.
“We have absolutely no fuel and absolutely no diesel,” Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said last week.
Díaz-Canel said the US has pushed the blockade that has been in place for decades "to levels never seen before, penalizing companies that want to invest in Cuba or simply provide us with basic goods like food, medicines, hygiene products, or others."
"The collective punishment to which the Cuban people are being subjected is an act of genocide that must be condemned by international organizations and criminally prosecuted against its promoters," said the president.
He also expressed gratitude to the governments of Mexico and Uruguay, which sent a shipment of aid to Cuba on Monday.
"This donation, which arrives in very difficult days for Cuba due to the direct and multidimensional impact of the United States blockade on the daily life of our people, is a living testament to the historic solidarity between our peoples and to the principles of humanism, cooperation, and integration that must unite the region," said Díaz-Canel.
The Trump administration's invasion of Venezuela, abduction of President Nicolás Maduro, and takeover of its oil reserves in January cut Cuba off from its top energy supplier.
The US is reportedly now considering an indictment former Cuban President Raúl Castro for shooting down planes that belonged to a US group and violated Cuban airspace in 1996. Trump—who has attacked not only Venezuela but also Iran—has repeatedly mused about the possibility of invading Cuba.
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Unlawful US Attack, Says Cuban President, 'Would Trigger a Bloodbath With Incalculable Consequences'
"Cuba, which already endures a multidimensional aggression from the US, does have the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught," said President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
May 18, 2026
As the Trump administration seeks to justify a war with Cuba using what Cuban officials have called “increasingly implausible accusations” that it poses a danger to national security, President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on Monday that an American assault would trigger a "bloodbath with incalculable consequences."
US President Donald Trump has imposed a punishing fuel blockade on Cuba for months that has devastated the island's civilian population with the explicit goal of forcing its government from power and has, on many occasions, threatened to use military force, including to outright "take" the island.
The densely populated island of nearly 11 million people is already in the midst of a humanitarian crisis as a result of "energy starvation" from the blockade, which has left the country's renowned healthcare system struggling to function, with 100,000 patients awaiting surgery, according to a recent United Nations report.
"The threats of military aggression against Cuba from the world's greatest power are well-known," Díaz-Canel said in a post to social media on Monday. "The threat itself already constitutes an international crime. If it were to materialize, it would trigger a bloodbath with incalculable consequences, plus the destructive impact on regional peace and stability."
His comments came after Axios reported Sunday on "classified intelligence" shared by unnamed senior US officials stating that Cuba possesses around 300 drones acquired from Russia and Iran and had been considering plans to attack the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, various US military vessels, and Key West, Florida.
Reporter Marc Caputo described the intelligence as a possible "pretext for US military action" against the island and quoted an unnamed senior official as saying it was "a growing threat."
Republican legislators, particularly those in South Florida, have seized on the report to argue for even harsher action against Cuba. US Reps. Mario Díaz-Balart and Elvira Salazar both said it was further evidence that Cuba poses a "threat to national security." Rep. Carlos Gimenez said it must be "dealt with accordingly."
However, buried deep within the report was the acknowledgment that "US officials don't believe Cuba is an imminent threat, or actively planning to attack American interests." Rather, the drones would be reserved for a scenario in which "hostilities erupt" in the event of a US military attack, which has been telegraphed for weeks by the Trump administration.
Cuba has not denied having drones, with its embassy saying on Sunday that it "has the right to defend itself against external aggression." But Cuba denied any intent to attack the US preemptively, saying that US officials were "distorting as extraordinary the logical preparation required to face a potential aggression."
Díaz-Canel reiterated on Monday that Cuba "poses no threat, nor does it have aggressive plans or intentions against any country."
"It has none against the US, nor has it ever had any—something the government of that nation knows full well, particularly its defense and national security agencies," the Cuban president continued.
"Cuba, which already endures a multidimensional aggression from the US, does have the absolute and legitimate right to defend itself against a military onslaught," he added. "Yet that cannot be wielded, either logically or honestly, as an excuse for imposing war on the noble Cuban people."
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