The Cuban regime is continuing down its path of proving how desperate it has become in the wake of Donald Trump putting a stop to the flow of free and cheap oil into the country. In its latest move, the handpicked face of the regime, "president" Miguel Díaz-Canel, sat down for an exclusive interview with Newsweek on Friday, which the outlet published on Tuesday.
The biggest news to come from it? "Miguel Díaz-Canel says the country will fight back with a guerrilla-style campaign if the U.S. launches a military attack, warning Washington that any operation would 'result in immense losses' for both countries."
L-O-L
No, really. That's how Marco Rubio responded when a reporter asked him about it on Tuesday.
Rubio met with New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters at the State Department, and the two made a brief appearance in front of the press for a photo. The secretary does this every time some other country's foreign minister is in town, but he rarely takes questions.
On this particular occasion, a reporter yelled out, "Mr. Secretary, can you tell me what do you think about Cuba’s president telling Newsweek that they’ll strike back against the U.S. if the U.S. launches operations there?"
Rubio could barely contain himself. "Okay, sure, yeah. I don’t think much about what he has to say," he responded with a laugh.
You can watch that exchange here:
Of Course, these "threats" are a response to the fact that Trump has been threatening a "friendly" — or not so friendly —takeover of Cuba since January. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has suggested that he doesn't think military action will be necessary for what the president and Rubio plan to do, but Trump has implied that it's not off the table.
The Newsweek interview is supposedly Díaz-Canel's first with a U.S. media outlet since 2023. Here's more on how he claims Cuba will defend itself:
But Díaz-Canel on Friday said his country, while preferring dialogue, would defend itself to the hilt 'with the participation of all the people' if the U.S. launched an attack.
'We will always strive to avoid war. We will always work for peace. But if military aggression occurs, we will fight back, we will battle, we will defend ourselves,' he said.
'And should we fall in battle, to die for the homeland is to live,' he added, evoking a slogan popularized by Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolutionaries’ guerrilla warfare.
Yawn. Half the people are too hungry to participate in dying "for the homeland," and the other half are literally begging Trump to come and save them with whatever it takes. The only way I imagine they'd fight "to the hilt" is if they were forced to do so, much like the Iranian regime is forcing women and children to form human shields around infrastructure this week.
🚨 BREAKING: Iran is now forming HUMAN CHAINS in front of a power plant in Kazerun in a bid to dissuade President Trump’s strikes come 8PM
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 7, 2026
They even invited children to attend.
This is evil and disgusting. Iran views their people as meat shields! pic.twitter.com/44N4tMhOQZ
According to Newsweek, Díaz-Canel "invoked the country's 'war of all the people defensive doctrine,' saying any U.S. military attack would 'result in immense losses for both nations and peoples.'"
"The loss of life and material destruction would be incalculable," he warned. "Such an act of aggression would be extremely costly in every respect, and it is not what our peoples deserve."
I don't know, I saw what happened when the Cubans were defending Nicolás Maduro. They came home in little boxes. Not only was the loss of life extremely calculable, but there were no "immense losses" for either nation.
The remains of 32 Cuban bodyguards of Maduro, killed during a U.S. strike in Venezuela, were returned to Cuba today.
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 15, 2026
🇨🇺🇻🇪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/ab1LsG0DJQ
Díaz-Canel concluded that Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States, but I beg to differ. According to the White House, "Cuba hosts Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States." It harbors U.S. fugitives and terrorists, including members of Hezbollah and Hamas, and regularly partners with China, Russia, Iran, and other adversaries just 90 miles off our shores. The regime's repressive actions against its own people also led to mass migration and destabilization in the region. It's almost like it exists just to pose a threat to the United States.
I imagine this is not the last we'll hear from Díaz-Canel and other members of the Castro family. As I warned the other day, be careful of people associated with the regime coming out of the woodwork to speak to the U.S. press. The regime is trying its best to appeal to the American left, be it members of Code Pink, members of Congress who just spent five days on the island propping up the regime, or the MSM.
Related: Why Are U.S. Taxpayers Paying for Members of Congress to Hang Out in Cuba?
Want to support conservative media? You can do so by becoming a PJ Media VIP member. It's less than $20 for the entire year, and you get some cool perks too. We can't wait to have you!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member