Cuba faces nationwide blackout as US pressure triggers energy crisis

Cuban president vows to fight

Last week, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that his country is ready to defend itself against America’s military intervention, saying that Cuba will fight  “to the very last drop of blood.”

Talking to Sky News about US President Donald Trump’s renewed threats to take over Cuba, Díaz-Canel said, “If there is an attack, the Cuban people will respond in unity and firmness and in defense of our sovereignty. We don’t want the war, but we’re not afraid of it.”

Responding to Trump’s recent claim that Cuba is “coming our way,” Diaz-Canel said Washington was pursuing “a strategy of media-driven intoxication and psychological warfare” against the island. He described the comments as “an outrage and an affront to the dignity of our people” and “a flagrant violation of international law.”

He added that while his government cannot rule out a possible US attack, Cuba is ready to retaliate. Invoking Cuba’s struggle for independence, Diaz-Canel cited 19th-century military commander Antonio Maceo, who famously said that anyone seeking to seize Cuba “will only be able to take the dust of his soil drenched in blood.”

‘No progress’ in talks

Meanwhile, Cuba’s government has said that months of negotiations with the United States, which is applying maximum pressure to the island to try to bring about a change in governance, have shown “no progress.”

“The discussions between the Cuban and US governments are showing no progress,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a press conference, adding that “despite all that” Havana “will remain open to dialogue.”

Washington has cranked up pressure on the communist island in recent months, imposing an energy blockade and several rounds of sanctions that have deepened an already dire economic crisis.