Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) greets crowds as Cubans ride electric tricycles and bicycles during an anti-imperialist march amid ongoing shortages and prolonged power outages, as the island faces deepening economic strain under the decades-long US embargo against Cuba on La Havana, Cuba.
Angelo Mastrascusa/Anadolu via Getty Images
- Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that US military action would lead to a “bloodbath”.
- Cuba rejected a report claiming it acquired military drones.
- Some Havana residents said they would resist any attack despite the island’s deep economic hardship.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday that any US military action against Cuba would lead to a “bloodbath” with incalculable consequences for regional peace and stability.
“Cuba does not represent a threat,” Diaz-Canel said in a post on X.
The comments follow an Axios report published on Sunday, citing classified intelligence, that said Cuba had acquired more than 300 military drones and had discussed plans to use them to attack the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, US military vessels and Key West, Florida.
Cuba said the US was fabricating a case to justify potential military intervention.
On the streets of Havana, some residents said they would resist any attack despite the island’s deep economic hardship.
READ | Angry Cubans demand electricity as island runs out of fuel amid a US blockade
“I know Cuba is a strong country. Cubans are very brave and they are not going to find us unprepared,” said Sandra Roseaux, 57.
“If they come, they will have to fight, because Cuba will respond. My country, hungry or however it may be, will respond. It is better that they do not come because there will be a fight.”
People have gathered outside Cuban Embassy in Spain to protest and demand the end to the US blockade of Cuba.
Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images
Cuba, a communist foe of Washington for generations, has come under increasing strain since the US cut off its energy supplies after arresting the president of its then-ally Venezuela in January.
In recent weeks, electricity has often been available for only an hour or two a day.
Tensions between the two countries have risen sharply in recent days.
Reuters reported last week, citing a US Department of Justice source, that prosecutors planned to indict former Cuban leader Raul Castro over Cuba’s 1996 shooting down of two planes operated by a humanitarian group.
Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said in a social media post that Cuba, “like every nation in the world”, has the right to legitimate self-defence against external aggression under the UN Charter and international law.
Las amenazas de agresión militar contra #Cuba de la mayor potencia del planeta son conocidas.
Ya la amenaza constituye un crimen internacional. De materializarse, provocará un baño de sangre de consecuencias incalculables, más el impacto destructivo para la paz y la estabilidad…
Ulises Medina, 58, a Havana resident, urged negotiations.
“It would not be right for the United States to invade Cuba, nor for Cuba to invade the United States,” he said.
“They must reach an agreement and talk and negotiate. Cuba, in any case, will defend itself because the country will not be surrendered.”
An indictment of Castro, 94 - the brother of late former leader Fidel Castro and a hero of the 1959 Cuban Revolution - would mark a major escalation in pressure on Cuba by the Trump administration.
“The Cuban people do not let anyone interfere with their land,” said Jorge Villalobos, 87.
“Cubans know how to defend themselves, even with sticks and stones.”
En nombre del pueblo cubano, expresamos nuestro más profundo agradecimiento por el nuevo cargamento de ayuda solidaria proveniente de #México y #Uruguay, dos naciones a las que nos une un enorme cariño.
Este donativo, que llega en días muy difíciles para #Cuba por el impacto… pic.twitter.com/0KiQRudzti
AFP reported that the government announced that it had run out of diesel and fuel oil needed to power the generators that supplement the output of its seven dilapidated power plants.
With only one oil tanker mooring in Cuba in the last four months, the situation is rapidly deteriorating.
Public transport has ground to a halt, and the government has moved university classes online, as part of a raft of measures aimed at conserving electricity.
But distance learning has proven challenging in a country with patchy internet and dwindling power supplies.
Students struggle in fields like architecture, which require regular feedback and direction from instructors.
“Having direct contact with the teacher is really important,” said 28-year-old Benitez, who has to ask all of his questions via WhatsApp or Telegram.
Burning piles of garbage fill the streets with smoke during ongoing blackouts and a fuel shortage that has disrupted waste collection services, as seen in Havana, Cuba.
Magdalena Chodownik/Anadolu via Getty Images
Cuba’s ambassador to the United Nations struck a defiant note.
“If someone tried to invade Cuba, Cuba will fight back, no doubt about it,” Ernesto Soberon Guzman told AFP in New York.
“In the 60s, they (the US) tried to invade Cuba, and they were defeated. Of course, everybody can say this is a different situation. Yes, it is. But the will of the people of Cuba has not changed,” he added.
The US ramped up pressure on the Caribbean island nation by announcing sanctions on its intelligence agency and nine Cuban nationals, including the country’s ministers for communications, energy and justice.
Several top Communist Party officials and at least three generals were also among those sanctioned, according to a statement from the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
On Monday, the island received a new shipment of humanitarian aid from Mexico - its fifth from Mexico’s left-wing government since February.
Unlike the previous shipments, which were carried by the Mexican navy, Monday’s aid consignment was transported by a merchant ship, sailing under a Panamanian flag, AFP journalists observed.
The vessel is carrying 1 700 tonnes of aid.
Cuba’s minister for the food industry, Alberto Lopez, said that it included powdered milk and beans for children and the elderly.
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