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Cuba ‘ready to defend’ itself if attacked, ambassador says

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/04/26 5:12 PM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/04/26 5:12 PM ET

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Cuban Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán on Monday said Havana is “ready to defend” itself if attacked after months of a U.S. oil blockade and the threat of political intervention from the Trump administration.

“If someone thinks that words like ‘give up,’ ‘surrender’ or ‘collapse’ are in the Cuban people’s dictionary, that person — those people are sorely mistaken,” Guzmán said during a Fox News appearance.

“In the Cuban dictionary, you will find words like ‘resilience,’ ‘resistance,’ ‘defense of our sovereignty’ and ‘defense of our independence,’” he added.

President Trump on Friday issued an executive order placing additional sanctions on Cuban officials the U.S. government has determined to be corrupt, as well as officials working in the energy, defense, financial or security sectors.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said the new measure is “illegal” and “abusive.”

“The proliferation of unilateral coercive measures, cognitive or unconventional wars, the occupation of territories, the seizure of natural resources, and the disregard for and violation of international law, and the brutal application of instruments of domination rather than hegemony are once again plunging the world into a multidimensional crisis and threatening #Cuba, which is in the crosshairs, in the sights of U.S. imperialism,” the diplomat added in a Sunday statement.

Guzmán’s comments echoed Cuban calls for sovereignty and followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s push toward regime change in Havana, despite the measure being largely rejected by its leaders.

In March, Rubio said the U.S. embargo is “tied to political change on the island” following Trump’s statement asserting a “friendly takeover” was possible in Cuba following the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“The law is codified, but the bottom line is, their economy doesn’t work. It’s a nonfunctional economy,” Rubio said, noting that Cuba has long relied on subsidies from the former Soviet Union and then Venezuela.

“They don’t get subsidies anymore, so they’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge,” he added.

Energy and power shortages in Cuba, aggravated by the embargo, have disrupted hospital service to those with chronic illness and altered daily life for many Cubans.

Mexico sent two aid ships to Cuba, and on Monday, Guzmán said Havana would be willing to accept any additional aid from the U.S.

“You know that we had a parade last Friday … as part of our celebration of the labor date, and there were 500,000 people in Havana, more than 5 million people all around the country, saying that we are ready to talk with the U.S. but ready to defend our sovereignty, our independence,” he said during the Fox News appearance.

Guzmán maintained that any diplomatic relations should be “based on reciprocity, based on equal footing, based on respect, sovereignty and independence, and based on no interference in the internal relations.”

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