Havana
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Any attempt by the United States to take control of Cuba will be met with “ironclad resistance,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Tuesday as power was restored to parts of the island following a nationwide power grid collapse.
Díaz-Canel said in a defiant X post that successive U.S. administrations have tried to isolate Cuba for more than 60 years, and accused the U.S. government of now using economic weakness as an “outrageous pretext” to take control of Cuba.
“Only in this way can we explain the intense economic warfare applied as collective punishment against the entire population,” he said. “Cuba faces the worst-case scenario with the confidence that any external aggressor will come into conflict with its impregnable resistance.”
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly provoked Cuba’s communist leadership with takeover threats. After suggesting on Monday that he could do whatever he wanted with Cuba, President Trump said on Tuesday: “We’re going to do something against Cuba right away.”
President Trump: “I think we can do whatever we want” to Cuba
Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed up with a frank assessment from the Oval Office.
Rubio said Tuesday that Cuba needs “a new chief.” “Their economy is not working… They are facing a lot of problems, but the people in charge don’t know how to solve it. So they have to hire new people in charge.”
Cuba has suffered a severe economic blow since the United States effectively cut off oil supplies earlier this year, depriving its aging power grid of its main fuel source.
The first national power grid collapse left most of the island’s 10 million people without power on Monday, forcing residents to use gas to cook by flashlights and candlelight.
Lack of fuel for dump trucks has caused garbage to pile up in some areas, school hours have been shortened and major sporting events have been postponed.
By Tuesday afternoon, power had been restored to about 55% of customers in the capital, Havana, and some areas in the west and central east of the island.
The outages have made life increasingly difficult for Cubans who have endured sporadic power outages for months.
Havana resident Marianela Alvarez told Reuters that Cubans do not want war, although uncertainty over U.S. action to carry out U.S. threats has increased anger and anxiety.
“We, as human beings, as civilians, are unprepared for war,” she said. “I hope President Trump understands and leaves us alone.”
Luis Enrique García, a Havana resident, told the news agency that he was concerned about his homeland but was hopeful for dialogue.
“I truly believe in dialogue and understanding, because it is love, not war, that unites human beings,” he said.
But not everyone was so sure.
“I don’t trust the dialogue with President Trump,” Havana local Amed Echenik told Reuters. “Even though I know a little about Trump, I don’t trust him as a human being. So that doesn’t really give me hope.”
Diaz-Canel confirmed Friday that Cuban officials had met with the United States to “identify bilateral issues that need to be resolved.”
President Trump had previously said the U.S. government was in talks with Cuba, but this was the first confirmation from the Havana side.
