The executive order issued by the White House on May 1 has shaken Cuba’s foundations. The United States decided to tighten the noose around an economy that was already in intensive care even before the new sanctions that took effect on Friday, or the oil blockade implemented earlier this year. Washington’s threat to freeze assets on U.S. territory of any foreign company or individual doing business with the Cuban regime — especially with the vast portfolio of businesses held by Gaesa, the military conglomerate that controls half of Cuba’s GDP — has produced its first effects. And once foreign companies withdraw, their replacement by U.S. firms appears to be the next step.
Almost at the same time on Wednesday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke from Washington while Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, spoke from Havana. Both were addressing the people of Cuba. The former highlighted the date, May 20, as the day “the Cuban flag flew for the first time over an independent country” in 1902, an image preserved in a period photograph that forever enshrined the birth of the republic. The latter, however, said that date should be credited for only one thing: “Having planted in Cubans of that era an anti-imperialist sentiment.” Rubio invoked 1902 as an epic moment, but Díaz-Canel asked the people not to forget that May 20 marks the day of U.S. “intervention” and “interference” in Cuba. That has been the narrative between Washington and Havana to this day: two governments wrestling over the meaning of history.
© Yamil Lage (AP)
Humor is often the Cuban people’s best tool for capturing their reality. That’s why, on an island that now spends more hours in darkness than with electricity, people no longer talk about apagones (blackouts) but about alumbrones — fleeting moments when the lights actually come on.
About 50 people, some holding signs and Cuban flags, gathered Wednesday outside the iconic Versailles restaurant on Calle Ocho in Miami, a regular meeting point for the Cuban exile community. The atmosphere was celebratory. And besides commemorating the island’s independence, the occasion was the indictment of Raúl Castro.
© CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH (EFE)
New winds of reform are sweeping through Havana. The Cuban regime on Friday announced a package of structural changes under the so-called Economic and Social Program for 2026 to confront one of the most severe crises in its recent history.
© Norlys Perez (REUTERS)
It’s midday and the bread still hasn’t arrived in one of the neighborhoods of central Havana. The open oven reveals empty shelves. Employees give an explanation that all the local residents have already heard: without electricity, there’s nothing to bake.
Between grandstanding, contradictory statements, and secret meetings, something is happening in Cuba. A path has opened that is still full of unknowns, but one that now seems hard to reverse. In recent days, events have accelerated with the unusual visit by the CIA chief to Havana, the U.S. indictment of Raúl Castro — the Cuban Revolution’s last great symbol — and the deployment of an aircraft carrier in Caribbean waters near the island.
© Ramon Espinosa (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
The Cuban community in Spain is encountering particular difficulties obtaining copies of their criminal records, a requirement to be eligible for the mass migrant legalization program announced by the Spanish government earlier this year. A perfect storm has left Cubans anxious about whether the documents requested from their country will arrive in time to apply for a residence and work permit in Spain. To the hardships already facing the Caribbean nation — including routine power outages that affect offices and agencies — is added the backlog that the consulate had already been experiencing since an earlier naturalization process opened for children and grandchildren of Spaniards. This has given rise, say some members of the Cuban community, to an underground business selling appointments at the Spanish mission in Havana for anywhere between €200 and €500.
© GIANLUCA BATTISTA
Miguel Díaz-Canel grows emotional, raising his fist before hundreds of left-wing activists from Europe and Latin America gathered at Havana’s convention center, as seen in a video recorded days before a shipment of humanitarian aid arrived, while they chant, “Cuba is not alone.” On May 22, he is seen giving a military salute amid trumpets and Cuban pennants before thousands gathered at the so-called anti-imperialist platform between the U.S. embassy and the Malecón to show support for 94-year-old Raúl Castro, who has just been charged by a U.S. court for ordering the shooting down of two planes belonging to an anti-Castro organization in 1996, an attack that killed four people.
© Norlys Perez (REUTERS)
The Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá used to say that he lived in the crossfire. In May 2002, he achieved the milestone of delivering more than 11,000 signatures to Cuba’s Parliament. The petition demanded a referendum to democratize the island.
© Norlys Perez (REUTERS)
Bogotá, Colombia – The Cuban regime held a rally in Havana today to show solidarity with revolutionary leader Raúl Castro days after he was indicted by U.S. authorities.
Castro, the younger brother of longtime dictator Fidel, was charged in a U.S. court on Wednesday with conspiracy to commit murder over the downing of two civilian planes in 1996.
The measure is the latest in a mounting pressure campaign this year by the White House, which has said it aims to overthrow the communist regime.
On May 20, the U.S. justice department unveiled an indictment against Castro, 94, for his alleged role in ordering Cuban forces to shoot down two civilian planes 30 years ago.
Four members of the Miami-based Cuban dissident group Hermanos Al Rescate (Brothers to the Rescue), who were operating the planes when they were shot down, lost their lives. U.S. authorities claim Castro, who was defense minister at the time, must have been involved in ordering the attack which killed three U.S. citizens.
But Cuba’s regime staunchly rejects the charges, with President Miguel Díaz-Canel writing on X, “This is a political move, with no legal basis, that seeks only to bolster the case they are fabricating to justify the folly of a military attack on Cuba.”
In the days since, the president has used his social media account to defend Castro’s honor.
Yesterday, he shared an image of the revolutionary leader in a Cuban military outfit, writing, “You don’t disrespect the nation’s heroes, and you don’t insult its history and traditions without facing consequences. Not in #Cuba.”
This morning, Castro shared photos from a rally in Havana in solidarity with Castro, writing, “Raúl is Raúl—he is Cuba, and he embodies heroism, dignity, and deep love for the people.”
Díaz-Canel also noted that the country was “just a few days away” from celebrating Castro’s 95th birthday, on June 3.
Photos showed a crowd of several thousand gathered on the Malecón (promenade) in Havana, some of them waving flags and others dancing.
While Raúl did not attend the rally – which was held in front of the U.S. Embassy – his daughter, Mariela Castro, did.
Fielding a question from the BBC about whether war was a possibility, she said: “We are used to receiving constant threats. There have been more dangerous moments but nothing has happened.”
Meanwhile, state newspaper Granma has been combatting U.S. claims that Cuba represents a national security threat to its northern neighbor.
‘Cuba neither threatens, challenges, nor provokes the United States or any other country in the world; Cuba is a peaceful nation’, read a headline on the paper’s website today, quoting Díaz-Canel.
It remains unclear what plans Washington has for the island; while some predict an operation similar to the extraction of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in January, others say the White House may be trying to pressure Havana into striking a deal.
But with the government doubling down on its anti-imperialist rhetoric, a negotiated change of guard would mark a major shift in the regime’s position.
Featured image description: President Díaz-Canel and other high-ranking officials posed in military uniforms in front of a crowd waving Cuban flags at a solidarity march on May 22.
Featured image credit: @DiazCanelB via X
The post Cuba regime rallies around Raul Castro after US indictment appeared first on Latin America Reports.
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