{"id":318177,"date":"2026-04-13T21:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=318177"},"modified":"2026-04-13T21:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T15:50:32","slug":"cubas-president-says-we-are-going-to-defend-ourselves-against-u-s-invasion-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/13\/cubas-president-says-we-are-going-to-defend-ourselves-against-u-s-invasion-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba\u2019s president says \u2018we are going to defend ourselves\u2019 against U.S. invasion – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel said the island \u201cwill defend ourselves\u201d against a U.S. invasion in an interview on NBC News\u2019 Meet the Press<\/em><\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

D\u00edaz-Canel, 65, said the U.S. has no valid reason to perform a military attack against the island or to try and depose him.<\/p>\n

He said an invasion of Cuba can be costly and affect regional security, but should it occur, Cubans would defend themselves \u2014 even when it meant losing their lives in the method.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf the time comes, I don\u2019t think there can be any justification for the US to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the U.S. to undertake a surgical treatment or the kidnapping of a president,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel said, speaking through a translator.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf that happens, there might be fighting, and there might be a struggle, and we are going to defend ourselves, and if we’d like to die, we\u2019ll die, because as our national anthem says, \u2018Dying for the homeland is to live.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore making that call, which is so irrational, there may be a logic, that’s, the logic of dialogue, to interact in discussions, to debate and take a look at to succeed in agreements that will move us away from confrontation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalist Kristen Welker asked D\u00edaz-Canel whether he was willing to commit to responding to \u201ckey demands\u201d from the U.S., corresponding to releasing political prisoners and scheduling multi-party elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one has made those demands to us, and now we have established that in respect to our political system or constitutional order, these are issues that should not under negotiations with the US,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel responded.<\/p>\n

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When Welker pressed D\u00edaz-Canel on the subject of political prisoners, and specifically named Cuban rapper Maykel Osorbo<\/a>, who has been in prison since 2021 for writing a protest song, the president said there are people in Cuba who should not in favour of the revolution \u201cand manifest themselves every day\u201d who should not in prison.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis narrative that has been created, that image that anyone who speaks against a revolution is thrown into jail, that\u2019s a giant lie, that\u2019s a slander, and that\u2019s a part of that construct with the intention to vilify and to interact a personality assassination of the Cuban Revolution,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel said, without answering about Osorbo.<\/p>\n

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In a portion of the interview shared on Thursday, Welker asked D\u00edaz-Canel if he can be \u201cwilling to step down if it meant saving Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before answering, D\u00edaz-Canel asked Welker if she had ever posed that query to another president on the earth.<\/p>\n

He asked: \u201cIs that an issue from you, or is that coming from the State Department of the U.S. government?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Cuba, the people who find themselves in leadership positions should not elected by the U.S. government, they usually don\u2019t have a mandate from the U.S. government. We now have a free sovereign state, a free state. We now have self-determination and independence, and we should not subjected to the designs of the US,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept of revolutionaries giving up and stepping down \u2013 it\u2019s not a part of our vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n

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D\u00edaz-Canel said he became president not out of a \u201cpersonal ambition or corporate ambition or perhaps a party ambition,\u201d but due to a mandate by the people.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIf the Cuban people understand that I’m not fit for office, that I even have no reason to be here, then I mustn’t be holding this position of president; I’ll reply to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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