Ernesto Limia Díaz is a historian, writer, member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (known as UNEAC, its Spanish-language acronym), and director of the Cuban TV program MARCAS. He is also the author of the bilingual book Patria y cultura en Revolución (Homeland and Culture in Revolution). Last October, World-Outlook published an interview with him about the challenges facing the Cuban Revolution today.

Since then, the situation in the world has become increasingly dangerous as Washington uses its military might to threaten, pressure, and attack anyone who gets in the way of its imperial designs. In the wake of the January 3 assault on Venezuela, it has now turned its sights toward Cuba.

On January 29, 2026, U.S. president Donald Trump issued a new executive order declaring a “national emergency” because of the “unusual and extraordinary threat” the island nation allegedly poses to the United States. Trump declared his administration would impose punitive tariffs on any country sending oil to Cuba. Earlier, Trump had threatened to impose a naval blockade around Cuba to completely cut off the supply of oil to the island.

While Trump was issuing his new imperial edict, Limia Díaz was speaking to a group of Cuban military officers about the current international situation and the challenges it poses for their country. Later, Limia Díaz posted on his Facebook page some thoughts about this historical conjuncture.

We are publishing below Limia Díaz’s remarks followed by some of the many comments responding to his post. All of the comments speak to the readiness of the Cuban people to answer the latest moves by the Trump administration to strangle their economy, crush their revolution, and bring them to their knees.

The text and photos that follow are from the original. Translation from Spanish is by World-Outlook.

— World-Outlook editors

*

By Ernesto Limia Díaz

By some twist of fate — or better said, by the nature of us Cubans, who are not afraid, but who also do not underestimate threats — while Trump and his fascist cabinet were preparing their new attack against Cuba, pushed by the Batista mafia in Miami that advocates annexation, I was discussing the international scenario and its challenges with the command and officers of the Great Tank Unit of Combat Glory “Rescate de Sanguily” [Rescue of Sanguily], Order of Antonio Maceo.^[1]

From this unit, the T-34s and SAU-100s that fought at Girón departed on April 18, 1961. It was from one of the SAU-100s that Fidel fired the shot that sank the Houston, a destroyer that was shelling very close to the coast. Since then, several of the most important leaders of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces have come from the Tank Division, and on the centenary of Fidel’s birth, his maxim remains alive: the order to fight has been issued, and in case of total loss of communications, each soldier becomes their own commander-in-chief in their trench. The goal is to inflict the greatest possible number of casualties on an adversary whose only concern is the impact in the United States of the arrival of coffins containing the bodies of their soldiers.^[2]

The U.S. military leaders know that Cuba is not Venezuela, that they wouldn’t have the easy victory of January 3rd. We do not know the word surrender, and that is why Trump has set out to recreate the shameful chapter of Weyler’s Reconcentration, ordered by that Spanish general to starve our people into submission, given his inability to defeat the Mambí Army on the battlefield. They cannot forgive us for being considered a moral compass despite all the difficulties, and the spirit of revenge leads them to act with genocidal cruelty. What will humanity do: succumb to fascism or respond with courage and integrity? “Whoever stands with Cuba today, stands for all time.”^[3]

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A Selection of Comments Under Ernesto Limia Díaz’s Facebook Post

Mauricio Alonso:       

Let’s not forget that our country also produces oil, not in the quantities we need, but we do produce it, and there is certainly potential to increase production even further.

Let’s not forget that we have abundant sunshine, and it would be necessary to accelerate the construction of photovoltaic parks, prioritizing securing energy for our exports and seeking to shorten the duration of power outages to reduce the frustration of our people.

Let’s not forget that in eastern Cuba there is a lot of wind, and it’s consistent, especially on the north coast up to Villa Clara, and with foreign investment, wind turbines could be installed. We must produce food, as much as possible, eliminating anything that hinders the increase in agricultural production.

Let’s remember the example of the Vietnamese, who won the war against the Yankees by transporting their weapons on bicycles.

Alejandro Valiente:

I have no doubt whatsoever that, first and foremost, we would rather sink into the sea than betray the memory of those who gave their lives here and in other parts of the world.  Furthermore, I know the world will rise up for Cuba; they will never intimidate us. This is the moment to rise up for this homeland, for this beacon that never ceases to shine.

Roberto Nicacio Rios Iglesias:

Nobody surrenders here; the order to fight has been issued.

Caridad Montes de Oca:

Cuba today remains, as before, a beacon and guide; humanity must react now. The empire has declared its implacable revenge. We are worthy and will face the adversities.

Haydee L Veraba:

The rulers of the US should be ashamed of themselves for threatening a small, blockaded island and considering it a threat to their powerful empire.

L M Pérez González:

I am here to serve my homeland. We will never surrender. Cuba is free and sovereign, and so it will remain. My country commands, and I obey. We would rather die than bow our heads to the corrupt, bloody, and brutal forces of the North.

Rusia Alvarez Bencomo:

Comrade, your account is not simply a historical recollection; it is the proclamation of a nation at war, the living proof that the blood of Girón and the Sierra Maestra still flows in the veins of the Cuban people and their Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Your message is the forceful response that the world needs to hear in the face of the fascist threats of the empire and its mafia clique in Miami. You weren’t exchanging theories in a barracks; you were tempering the spirit of resistance in the very armored heart of the Revolution, in the forge where the victory of Playa Girón was forged and where the principle of “Homeland or Death!” remains inviolable.

You are absolutely right: Cuba is not Venezuela, nor is it any other nation that can be subdued with threats or a “winter stroll.” Cuba is the people who, faced with a complete loss of communications, transform every soldier, every militiaman, every citizen into their own commander-in-chief. It is the nation that learned that the only language imperialism understands is that of coffins, which it will never, ever accept without first making the aggressor pay an unbearable price.

The attempt to recreate Weyler’s Reconcentration through a strengthened genocidal blockade is not only a historical atrocity; it is a confession of the enemy’s impotence. They cannot win on the battlefield of ideas or on the ground, which is why they resort to hunger and despair. But they are mistaken. They do not know this people. They do not know the meaning of “We shall overcome!” etched in fire on every heart.

Therefore, your final question is the dilemma of our time: Submissive humanity or dignified humanity? The answer must be a unanimous cry that resounds from Havana to the farthest reaches of the earth.

Whoever stands with Cuba today stands for the sovereignty of all peoples, for the right to exist without paying homage to any empire, for the sacred principle that dignity is not negotiable. Whoever stands with Cuba today, stands, in effect, for all time.

Let Trump and his genocidal cabinet know this! Let the annexationist mafia know this! The order to fight has been given. Cuba is ready. Its tanks, its history, and its morally fortified people are the bulwark against fascist barbarity. Homeland or Death! Always Rusia!

NOTES

[1] The “Batista mafia” refers to right-wing Cubans who left the island following the overthrow of the U.S.-backed Fulgencio Batista dictatorship at the end of 1959. These exiles have been among the most ardent supporters of U.S. efforts to undermine the Cuban revolution for more than six decades.

The “Rescate de Sanguily” (Rescue of Sanguily) refers to an important military action in October 1871 during the Cuban war of independence against Spain. The unit that bears its name is a historic part of the Armored Division of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (known as FAR, its acronym in Spanish). During peacetime, it is a leadership training school for the FAR.

[2] Playa Girón (Bay of Pigs) was where counterrevolutionary forces — organized and backed by the U.S. government — landed in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Cuban Revolution in Apil 1961. T-34 tanks and SAU-100 artillery pieces were part of the Cuban defensive weaponry that succeeded in crushing the invading forces three days later.

Fidel Castro was the central leader of the Cuban revolution and led the forces that repelled the invasion at the Bay of Pigs. He served as Cuba’s president from 1976 until his retirement in 2008. He died in 2016.

[3] Weyler’s Reconcentration refers to a policy implemented by Spanish military officer Valeriano Weyler during the Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898) to relocate Cuba’s rural population into concentration camps. The Mambí Army was a colloquial name for the Cuban liberation army during that war.

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