Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that his nation would defend itself “to the last drop of blood” following President Trump’s latest warning that Havana make a deal with the US “before it is too late.”
Diaz-Canel remained defiant on Sunday as he condemned Trump’s comments, saying the communist island would reject any and all foreign interference following the capture of its long-time ally Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.
“Cuba is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. No one dictates what we do,” Diaz-Canel wrote on X.
“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 added.
Diaz-Canel also slammed any criticism levied against his government and the communist revolution for Cuba’s modern-day economic struggles, blaming the problems on US sanctions.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez echoed the president’s remarks and warned the US that it was free to continue oil trade with Venezuela, which Trump warned that he would end unless Cuba negotiated with his administration.
“Like any country, Cuba has the absolute right to import fuel from those markets willing to export it and that exercise their own right to develop their trade relations without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures [of the US],” Rodriguez said in a statement.
US Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), a Cuban native, responded to Diaz-Canel on social media, telling the president that his days in office were numbered.
“You dictators, henchmen, and executioners of the Cuban nation think you own the island. You don’t have much time left,” he wrote.
“First Venezuela & next is Cuba,” Gimenez added, referencing the American operation that saw Maduro captured.
Trump and his allies have escalated their threats against Cuba following Maduro’s capture, with Trump recently musing that Secretary of State Marco Rubio could soon become the island nation’s new president should the US topple its government.
“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I would be concerned. At least a little bit,” Rubio had told reporters after Maduro’s arrest.
