President Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba's leadership prepares for US attack

Cuba is preparing for a possible attack by the US military, according to President Miguel Díaz-Canel. "We are determined to repel any attempt at foreign military aggression against our country," he said after recent statements by US President Donald Trump that were widely seen as a threat. However, Cuba is a peaceful country and does not pose a threat to US national security, emphasized Díaz-Canel.

Trump signaled in a radio interview that he wanted to force a change of power in Cuba in the two remaining years of his term in office and could also be prepared to use military force to achieve this. "I want to finish Cuba before I go," said Trump. In his own words, he would “definitely consider” military action.

Díaz-Canel criticized the repeated statements by US politicians about the intention of military aggression against Cuba - without directly mentioning Trump. The Cuban head of state spoke to senior military chiefs as well as members of the Communist Party and local authorities on the so-called National Defense Day in the municipality of Boyeros, south of the capital Havana.

Since the US military attack in Venezuela in January that captured authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the US, military exercises and defense coordination meetings have been taking place regularly across Cuba. Soldiers also provide basic military training to civilians as part of the “war of the whole people” strategy.

Trump has already commented several times about a possible US military intervention in Cuba. In October, during an appearance before the upcoming US general election, he said that American warships could head to the Caribbean island on the way back from their mission in the Iran War. If they then stopped off the coast, the rulers in Cuba would eventually surrender.