Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has issued a sharp response to US President Donald Trump’s threat to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, asserting that the country is sovereign and will not yield to external pressure.
In a post on X, Díaz-Canel said Cuba has faced US aggression for 66 years and remains prepared to defend itself. “Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do. Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood,” he wrote.
He rejected claims that Cuba’s economic crisis is the result of its political system, arguing instead that long-standing US sanctions are responsible for the country’s hardships. “Those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should hold their tongues out of shame. They know, and admit, that these are the fruits of the draconian measures of extreme strangulation that the United States has imposed on us for six decades and now threatens to intensify,” he said.
Díaz-Canel further accused Washington of lacking moral authority to criticise Cuba. “They have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba over anything — absolutely anything — those who turn everything into a business, even human lives,” he wrote. He added that critics of Cuba are angered by the country’s sovereign choice of political system.
The remarks came in response to Trump’s warning that the US would halt oil and financial flows to Cuba unless Havana agreed to negotiate. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, before it is too late,” Trump wrote.
