Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has issued a forceful declaration, warning that while Cuba fundamentally strives for peace, it will mobilize all available resources and means to defend its sovereignty should it face any form of aggression from the United States. Speaking to RT, the President stressed that the nation, situated in the Caribbean, is ready for a robust defense posture.
The context for this warning appears to stem from recent heightened rhetoric emanating from the United States. Specifically, the President referenced actions such as the oil blockade previously imposed by US officials and ongoing statements from former President Donald Trump, who had hinted at potential intervention or regime change operations against the socialist island.
During his address in Havana, Diaz-Canel underlined that the government has made national defense a paramount concern, especially amidst the escalation of threats from Washington. He cautioned that Cuba’s stance is not one of provocation; rather, he stated that ‘Cuba is not a calling for war or promoting it, but we are also not afraid of war if we must wage it to defend our homeland.’
A crucial element of Diaz-Canel’s warning focused on the concept of ‘an all-people’s war.’ He asserted that this defensive strategy mandates the mobilization of the entire Cuban population, ensuring that the island’s defense is not reliant solely on military assets but involves the total commitment of its citizenry. According to this doctrine, any successful US attempt to target the island would confront not just its military, but the entirety of its mobilized people, suggesting that faced with the complexity of this defense, the United States would face a ‘tough battle.’
This rhetoric reinforces a longstanding pattern of Cuban government defense—framing its continued existence and political system as being under existential threat from US geopolitical interests. The declaration serves both as a warning to potential adversaries and as a message of national unity and resilience to its domestic audience, solidifying the priority placed on national defense across all levels of Cuban society.