Cuban president promises ‘impregnable resistance’ to any US attempt to control island
Cuban president promises ‘impregnable resistance’ to any US attempt to control island
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared Tuesday that the nation would resist any U.S. attempt to assert control, as power was gradually restored to certain regions after a nationwide blackout. The crisis, which left most of the island’s 10 million residents without electricity, highlighted the growing tensions between Havana and Washington.
Díaz-Canel emphasized in a defiant X post that the U.S. has pursued efforts to isolate Cuba for over six decades. He accused the nation of using Cuba’s economic struggles as an “outrageous pretext” to justify intervention. “The fierce economic war, applied as collective punishment against the entire population, can only be explained this way,” he stated.
“In the face of the worst scenario, Cuba is accompanied by a certainty: any external aggressor will clash with an impregnable resistance.”
US President Donald Trump had previously mocked Cuba’s leadership, threatening to take control of the island. After suggesting on Monday he could act unilaterally, Trump reiterated his stance on Tuesday: “We’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the sentiment, asserting from the Oval Office that Cuba requires “new people in charge.” “Their economy doesn’t work…They’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it,” Rubio said, implying a need for leadership change.
The power outage worsened Cuba’s already strained economy, which suffered after the U.S. restricted its oil supply earlier this year. Without fuel for generators, the aging electricity grid collapsed, forcing residents to rely on gas lamps and candles. Schools shortened hours, sports events were delayed, and waste accumulation disrupted daily life in some areas.
By Tuesday afternoon, electricity had resumed for approximately 55% of Havana’s population, along with select regions in the west and central-east. The outages exacerbated the hardships Cubans face, with sporadic blackouts persisting for months.
Havana resident Marianela Alvarez expressed hope that the U.S. would avoid conflict. “We, as people and as civilians, aren’t prepared for a war,” she said. “I want Trump to understand, to leave us alone.”
While some Cubans, like Luis Enrique Garcia, remained optimistic about dialogue, others were skeptical. “I don’t trust a conversation with Trump,” said Amed Echenique. “I don’t trust Trump as a person, even with the little I know about him. And so that’s something that doesn’t really give me hope.”
Díaz-Canel confirmed that Cuban officials had engaged in discussions with the U.S. to “identify the bilateral problems that need a solution.” This marked the first official acknowledgment from Havana of ongoing talks, following Trump’s earlier claims of negotiations with the island.