Cuba’s leader says US aggression would meet ‘impregnable resistance’

Milexsy Duran, Associated Press

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has lashed out after US President Donald Trump suggested he can do “whatever he wants” with the island and that the US could take “imminent action” against it.

Writing on the social platform X, Mr Diaz-Canel said the Trump administration “publicly threatens” Cuba’s government almost daily with overthrowing it, and any act of aggression “will clash with an impregnable resistance”.

The comments come after the new threats by Mr Trump and US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who said the Cuban government’s socialist economic model needs to “change dramatically”.

While the Cuban government places heavy restrictions on the country’s private sector, decades of US sanctions have crippled Cuba’s economy.

The Trump administration is looking for Mr Diaz-Canel to leave as the US continues negotiating with the Cuban government, according to a US official and a source with knowledge of talks between Washington and Havana.

No details have been offered about who the administration might like to see in power.

Mr Trump’s comments on Cuba come after his administration’s military raid that captured then-president Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, and the launch of US military strikes against Iran.

The administration has effectively halted vital oil exports to Cuba, pushing the Caribbean nation to the brink.

The Cuban people Mr Trump and Mr Rubio say they want to help have been left reeling.

Overnight, activist groups from various countries delivered five tons of medical equipment and other aid, according to Cuban state television, while crippling blackouts plague the island.