Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Thursday that Cuba does not seek military conflict with the United States but is prepared to fight should one occur, addressing hundreds of people at a Havana rally marking the 65th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution’s declaration of its socialist character.
The remarks came days after President Donald Trump said his administration could turn its attention to Cuba after the ongoing war in Iran concludes, describing the island as a “failing nation.”
The warnings come amid deepening friction between Washington and Havana as US-imposed restrictions on Cuba’s oil supply compound an economic crisis that officials and experts describe as approaching humanitarian dimensions, even as both governments have acknowledged ongoing, undisclosed talks.
“The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it,” Díaz-Canel said.
Trump’s comments earlier this week indicated Cuba could become a focus of US policy once the Iran conflict ends. “We may stop by Cuba after we finish with this,” he said. Trump described Cuba as a “failing nation” and asserted it had “been a terribly run country for a long time.”
Trump had previously threatened to intervene in Cuba, as he did in early January when the US military attacked Venezuela and halted key oil shipments from the South American country. He subsequently threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — whose parents emigrated from Cuba in the 1950s before the revolution — have described Cuba’s government as ineffective and abusive. US demands on the Cuban government in exchange for easing sanctions have included an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners, and a liberalization of the island’s ailing economy.
Díaz-Canel rejected that framing. “Cuba is not a failed state. Cuba is a besieged state. Cuba is a state facing multidimensional aggression: economic warfare, an intensified blockade and an energy blockade,” he said. He added: “Cuba is a threatened state that does not surrender. And despite everything. And thanks to socialism. Cuba is a state that resists, creates, and make no mistake, a state that will prevail.”
Measures restricting Cuba’s oil supply from Venezuelan, Mexican, and Russian sources have exacerbated prolonged blackouts and fuel shortages across the island, according to the AP. Experts have warned of a humanitarian crisis.
Both Cuba and the United States have acknowledged talks to resolve the tension, though neither side has disclosed details.
Thursday’s commemoration marked the anniversary of a historic April 16, 1961 address by Fidel Castro, the late Cuban leader, which declared the revolution’s socialist character during a confrontation with Washington and set the ideological direction the Caribbean nation has maintained against US influence in the hemisphere.