After US President Donald Trump’s statements about a possible US takeover of Cuba, the head of state of the Caribbean island issued a warning.
March 18, 2026, 06:29March 18, 2026, 06:29
“Even in the worst case scenario, Cuba can be sure of one thing: any external attacker will face insurmountable resistance,” wrote President Miguel Díaz-Canel on the X platform.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.Image: keystone
Trump recently indicated that the US would intervene in the Cuban power structure in the near future and spoke about “taking over” or “liberating” the socialist state in some form. In fact, he could do anything he wanted with Cuba, he told reporters on Monday. In view of the severe economic crisis on the island, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke of the need for a change in leadership.
“Those responsible don’t know how to solve this. So new people have to take over,” said Rubio. According to US media reports, the government in Washington does not consider President Díaz-Canel, who has been in power since 2019, to be the right person to promote the economic and political changes in Cuba desired by Trump.
Díaz-Canel accuses the US of waging an economic war
Relations between the United States and Cuba have been strained since the revolution under Fidel Castro’s leadership in 1959. A U.S. trade embargo against Cuba has been in effect for more than 60 years and has deepened the island’s economic crisis. Tensions have escalated again, particularly since the start of Trump’s second term in office a good year ago.
“The United States publicly threatens Cuba almost daily with violent overthrow of the constitutional order,” wrote Díaz-Canel on “This is the only way to explain the bitter economic war that is being waged as a collective punishment against the entire population,” said the Cuban president.
With tariff threats against suppliers of oil exports to Cuba and a blockade of sanctioned tankers from the South American sister state of Venezuela, Trump has largely cut off the island from access to oil since December. However, the governments in Havana and Washington have simultaneously confirmed that they are holding talks. (sda/dpa)