Cuban "president" Miguel Díaz-Canel has been doing some rare interviews with the U.S. media in recent days, with the goal of combatting Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's "Cuba is falling" rhetoric and spewing his own propaganda in hopes that he finds a sympathetic U.S. audience.
The latest was with NBC's Kristen Welker, host of Meet the Press. The full interview will air on Sunday, but we've seen some glimpses, and let's just say it got a little heated. Díaz-Canel was not a huge fan of Welker's line of questioning.
"Would you be willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba?" Welker asks.
Díaz-Canel does not look amused.
"You are a very important and, and recognized journalist. Have you ever asked that question to any other president in the world?" he responds.
Welker rephrases: "If it is one of the conditions the United States is asking for, would you ever consider that?"
Díaz-Canel repeats his question twice more, to which Welker says she asks "very tough questions to world presidents."
"Could you ask that question to Trump?" he responds.
He also asks her if the question is coming from her or if it is from the State Department. (Dude is not a big Rubio fan to say the least.)
"I ask very hard questions of President Trump," she maintains, adding, "My question is, because it's one of the things that we've heard the U.S. government talk about, that they want political change here in Cuba. So my question is for you. If they asked you, if they said, 'This is one condition,' would you step down?"
"Because of your honesty, I'm gonna assume that you're asking that question because of those reasons," the defensive dictator responds.
He continues:
In Cuba, the people who are in leadership position is not elected by the U.S. government, and they, they don't have a mandate from the U.S. government.
We have a free sovereign state, a free state.
We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States.
While that may be true, the people who are in "leadership," if you want to call it that, are not elected by the Cuban people either, but that did not stop this man from implying otherwise. He keeps going:
You can see my background, where I was born, my family, what I've done throughout my life.
We are elected by the people, although there's a narrative trying to disregard that.
Any one of us, before we become part of a leadership role, we need to be elected at the grassroot level in an electoral district by thousands of Cubans, and then those who represent the Cubans at the National Assembly of the People's Power elect those leadership positions and those offices like it happens in many other countries around the world.
Sure, Miguel. If by "other countries around the world," you mean North Korea, I'll buy that.
Here's more:
So, we have an election system on the basis of people's participation. So whenever we take this responsibility position and this leadership position, it's not out of our personal ambition or a corporate ambition or even a party ambition.
We do that as a mandate by the people. And the concept of revolutionaries giving up and stepping down is not part of our vocabulary. If the Cuban people understand that I am not fit for office, that I have no reason to the occasion, then and I should not be holding this position of president, I would respond to them.
I don't even have to tell you that this is propaganda. We've seen the people marching in the streets for weeks, calling for a change, calling for an end to the current regime, starting fires at Communist Party headquarters, and even begging Trump to save them.
And as the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba explains, Cuba does not have free elections. "Cuba is a one-party system where only the Communist Party is allowed. There’s no opposition on the ballot, no real campaign competition, and candidates are pre-selected through state-controlled processes."
The only person who "elected" this man was Raúl Castro, who hand-picked him to be his successor. Díaz-Canel became "president" in 2018 and the leader of the Communist Party in 2021.
#DidYouKnow Cuba does not have free elections?#Cuba is a one-party system where only the Communist Party is allowed. There’s no opposition on the ballot, no real campaign competition, and candidates are pre-selected through state-controlled processes. pic.twitter.com/wor4SWUau4
— The Foundation For Human Rights in Cuba (@TheFHRC) April 10, 2026
Of course, Welker just lets him carry on, knowing darn good and well he's lying. My hope is that when we see the full interview, she does push back. But my hopes aren't high. She only tends to push back when she can be critical of the Trump administration, like back in January when she had Rubio on just after we captured Nicolás Maduro and tried to compare Venezuela to the Middle East.
Welker: Regime change historically speaking has not gone very well for the United States. Can you assure Americans that this time will be different?
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 4, 2026
Rubio: We've got this phobia built up… I watched these experts and it's clown hour. Venezuela looks nothing like Libya. It looks… pic.twitter.com/JEgoOkiyTP
Rubio seemed just as incredulous as Díaz-Canel at her line of questioning. We may have finally found something these two men can agree on: The Sunday show infobabes are pretty much useless.
Oh well, I guess we'll see what happens on Sunday.
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