- “The president of the Empire is behaving like Hitler, with a criminal, contemptuous policy aimed at taking over the world,” Díaz-Canel said.
- Despite everything, Havana does not rule out maintaining a “serious, responsible dialogue based on international law” with the US.
14ymedio, Havana, January 31, 2026 — Faced with increasing pressure from Washington and the accelerating loss of its fuel suppliers, the Cuban government has once again recycled its oldest and most predictable response: “Homeland or Death.” There are no indications that they have an alternative economic program. Nor are there any visible political reforms or signs of internal course correction. Only rhetoric.
The phrase resurfaced this Friday, uttered by President Miguel Díaz-Canel in a speech widely reported by Cubadebate, and was reiterated hours later in an official statement sent to the international press. The message offers nothing new; in the face of the latest US sanctions, the strategy remains the same.
The discourse, repeated for over six decades, no longer disguises the absence of new ideas or the profound decay of the model. The official narrative once again revolves around a “decline empire,” constant external aggression, and a heroic country that resists. But it carefully avoids any reference to its own mistakes, the structural inefficiency of the system, or the lack of freedoms and rights.
The scene is all too reminiscent of Venezuela in the days leading up to Nicolás Maduro’s arrest. Then, as now in Cuba, the government’s rhetoric combined calls for peace, accusations of international conspiracies, and a supposed willingness to engage in dialogue “without preconditions,” while in practice not a single real political concession was offered. The outcome is well known.
In Havana, the script is repeated almost verbatim. Díaz-Canel asserts that Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States, but only “on equal terms,” without “interference” and without touching the pillars of the system. In other words, a dialogue to change nothing. A rhetorical exchange without consequences, designed more for international consumption than to solve the daily problems of the population.
The regime’s alliances have also failed to translate into economic stability or relief for an island facing its worst crisis.
The government reaffirms its commitment to “continue working with friendly countries,” alluding to Russia, China, and Iran, presented as geopolitical counterweights to Washington. But this alliance, more symbolic than effective, has also failed to translate into economic stability or relief for an island facing its worst crisis in the last three decades.
The official statement insists that the United States has failed in its attempt to “surrender and destroy” the Revolution for 67 years. However, the text omits a key question: what has the Cuban government itself achieved during that same period to guarantee prosperity, rights, and sustained well-being for its citizens?
The energy crisis, aggravated by the suspension of Venezuelan supplies and US pressure on Mexico, is presented exclusively as a consequence of the “blockade,” when in reality it is also the result of decades of mismanagement, lack of investment and centralized decisions that scare away capital and talent.
Even Havana’s traditional allies no longer hide their frustration with a state incapable of honoring its financial commitments or undertaking even minimal reforms to stabilize its exhausted economy. This is compounded by the apparent normalization of non-payment and an ever-increasing dependence on donations and political concessions, accepted as simply part of the system’s normal operation.
The regime presents itself as a “peaceful people,” open to dialogue, but it intensifies the mechanisms of internal repression.
Belligerent rhetoric is also accompanied by an increasingly bombastic tone. The words used to define the United States are designed for ideological mobilization, not for diplomacy or the resolution of real conflicts. And they reinforce the perception of a power trapped within its own narrative.
Meanwhile, official figures presented at recent party rallies paint a far less rosy picture, with a collapsed transportation system, industrial production well below projections, stagnant housing, and rising infant mortality. All of this, according to the official narrative, is being managed with more slogans and calls for resistance, but with no concrete solutions in sight.
The regime presents itself as a “peaceful people,” open to dialogue, but it intensifies internal repression, persecutes dissent, and maintains absolute control over political life. It calls for international “understanding” while denying fundamental rights within its borders. It speaks of popular sovereignty without allowing free elections or pluralism.
“Patria o Muerte” [Fatherland or Death] thus functions once again as a closing slogan, but not as a project for the future. A useful phrase for uniting the ruling elite and justifying inaction, but increasingly distant from an exhausted citizenry that demands not epic narratives but concrete solutions: electricity, food, medicine, transportation, and freedom.
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