The former Polish president warns that the US president is heading in the right direction, but he is looking out for his country’s interests, not those of the Cuban people.
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 13 February 2026 — Speaking in Miami this Thursday, the former Polish President Lech Walesa, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, suggested that Cubans in Florida “take advantage” of US President Donald Trump to achieve change on the island, but warned that the president “will not bring you freedom.”
“You need to take advantage of Trump because he’s going in the right direction, but remember that he is going in the direction of American interests, not Cuban interests. So you need to be prepared for all of this to converge,” Walesa responded to a question from EFE.
The recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1983) compared Cuba’s current struggle to the one he led to end the communist regime in 1989. Speaking at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami, he recalled that his movement “took advantage” of the fact that there was a Polish pope, John Paul II, so Cubans should “take advantage” of Trump.
The recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (1983) compared Cuba’s current struggle with the one he led to end the communist regime in 1989, speaking at the Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami.
“You have a similar situation. There’s Trump, but the question is how to take advantage of him being president because he won’t bring you freedom. You have to take advantage of Trump to win your freedom,” he said.
The Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance (ARC), and other exile organizations recognized Walesa as the first “ambassador of freedom in Cuba,” considering that “the fall of the regime” is closer than ever due to the policies of Trump and the Cuban-born Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Washington has increased pressure on Havana following the intervention in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, cutting off the supply of Venezuelan crude to the island and declaring a “national emergency” to sanction countries that supply oil to Cuba.
Walesa, who in 1990 became Poland’s first democratically elected president since 1926, and has inspired Cubans for their fight against communism, told the exiles that “you have the opportunity for a quick victory, but that’s when the problems will begin” because they risk civil war.
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“So I wish you freedom and, really, I’m asking you, let me participate in your victory parade in Cuba. Hurry,” the 82-year-old former president said.
The Polish politician also revealed that he had a conversation last week with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. “She gave her Nobel Prize to Trump too quickly and too easily,” he said he told her.
“Of course, we will stay in touch and I will participate in the fight for freedom in your country (Venezuela), your country (Cuba), and other countries. What I have seen is that you have a fighting spirit,” he said.
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