Cuban President Lays Out Plans for Countering U.S. Blockade

This is the second of two parts with major excerpts from the transcript of a press conference Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez gave on March 13, 2026.

The full introduction to it can be found in Part I.

The excerpts are selected from the original Spanish-language transcript as it appeared in the Cuban daily Granma; photos are also from Granma. The translation, breakers, and notes are by World-Outlook.

We are publishing these materials for the information of our readers. Due to the length of the press conference, we are publishing the excerpts below in two parts, the second of which follows.

— World-Outlook editors

*

(This is the second of two parts. The first can be found in Part I.)

Many Are the Lessons in this Country in these Difficult Times (II)

Joel García, editor of Trabajadores [weekly newspaper of the Confederation of Cuban Workers (CTC)]: My question is related above all to precisely what our newspaper is about. You explained the whole energy situation, the fuel situation, but there are many centers, enterprises, that have come to a halt. Some have even reduced their personnel, and even though Cuban law protects workers, my question is focused on what else can be done by directors, businesspeople, that isn’t being done to prevent massive layoffs that could happen in the future, given that the situation could continue to be tense.

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] Productive activity has been reduced; without energy, no country can produce at normal levels. Service capacity is also reduced, and all of that involves labor adjustments. There are changes in work, there is a certain level of layoffs, there are job relocations, and all of that has an impact on work and wages for a large portion of our workers, our families.

One principle that all of us must share — from government management to the Party’s political activity to labor union and administrative activity — is that above all, we seek to defend the protection of our workers’ jobs and wages. And I insist — I have shared this with comrades from the labor movement, and Party and government leadership, and with the provinces — that instead of layoffs, we should try to adapt and aim for job relocation or reassignment, because there is much to be done.

Reassigning workers to communities

For example, there is much work to be done in the communities, processes that need to be addressed, to be taken to another level of solution, with this large workforce now spending less time in their normal work scenarios — their factories, their entities — and more time in their communities. With them, we could organize community projects or make progress on existing ones; we can strengthen the local production system, especially community-level food production, services for the vulnerable, and solid waste collection; creative projects to benefit the population, with the number of professional personnel who we can say are trained pedagogically, methodologically, because of their knowledge, who can contribute to all of the educational processes that are now centered in the community, the municipality, and municipal centers of higher education. There is a lot we can do.

And it is better for all of us — even if we have to relocate, even if we have to change jobs — to contribute, not to be demobilized, not to wait for others to do what we can do, to contribute.

Our labor legislation includes a number of special provisions. For example, in the case of budgeted units,^[1] during the first month, anyone left without job relocation is paid 100 percent of their salary, and after that month, 60 percent.

[…]

So, I would say in terms of our workers spending more time in work scenarios other than traditional ones, that the union needs to update its role. More than the factory, the union today needs to be where its workers are being relocated. It needs to be paying attention to and defending that job and wage treatment with a willingness to find solutions in those spaces where workers are going to be spending more time.

I strongly emphasize the community context. If we leverage that mass of workers, who moreover are neighbors, who have empathy for each other, and a real possibility for solving problems at the local, community level, in the municipality, I think we can make an important leap in a whole group of activities, in the middle of this complicated situation. And we won’t have anyone idle, we won’t have anyone demobilized, we won’t have anyone not contributing something to our society. That participation, that capacity for adapting, provides unity, and unity is the reason for all our victories, for all the progress we can make in all of our endeavors. But it requires a thorough, committed, responsible analysis by those who are leading our budgeted units and enterprises and also by the union movement.

Raciel Guanche, Juventud Rebelde [Rebel Youth, daily newspaper of the Union of Young Communists]:  Cuba’s universities also have had to make changes to fulfill their educational mission. Nevertheless, some students have been worried about this matter of finishing the semester.

My concrete question is whether the country’s leadership has analyzed this issue, and what plans exist for moving forward.

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] How can a school or university operate with blackouts, without fuel for transporting professors and students, with a food shortage, without being able to deploy all the potential that information technology provides in the teaching and learning process? All of it is affected by this energy blockade.

Now, what are we going to do? Give up? End the school year? Not provide any alternatives or solutions? I think both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education were very creative in implementing a number of measures […] to confront, in the first month, all of the limitations we were going to have with the fuel shortage, and it was necessary to reorganize the curricular design of educational activity, both in general and higher education.

Part-time in-person learning for students

In the case of higher education, part-time in-person learning variations were also implemented. These are not new, because in fact we have courses — such as courses for workers — that normally are only partially face-to-face. I would say what’s creative about using this part-time in-person modality is that it turned into a community situation — connected to our response in relation to workers, where we can also work in the community setting from the point of view of education.

This has a lot to do with how students are integrated into the community, how the school year continues within the community, which is not just the job of the students and the sacrifice and effort of the students; it also has a lot to do with the professors, because the professors would then have to go into the community more, to deal more directly with students, which transforms the professor-student relationship from one that exists in a classroom to one in a community setting — in the community’s centers of production, in the Municipal University Center, or in the classrooms or facilities that the community puts at the disposal of the students, and work has been done on that.

We have been in that situation for a month. Not everything has gone well. There are places where it has worked better, and there are places where there have been lapses, where there has not been full direct, efficient attention, and that has caused concern among professors, students, and Cuban families, among teachers and among students.

What has been done? Discussion, evaluation, dialogue, listening to concerns, listening to complaints, listening to dissatisfaction and to proposals that professors, students, and family members are making. Insisting more on finding the possibilities in each community — not all communities are alike — and in each municipality to support these reorganization processes.

[…]

Now, I would like to guarantee, especially on March 13, such a historic date for Cuba given what it means for the Cuban student movement and given the heroism of the Federation of University Students and the Student Directorate then — on that date, under a dictatorship, the university movement stood up in support of the July 26^th Movement^[2] and adopted the cause of the Cuban people — I think that confirming this, at a time like this, indicates that education and higher education are priorities for the Cuban Revolution and our process of building socialism, and that we are going to keep making them a priority.

[…]

Welcoming, listening to Cubans residing abroad

Valia Marquínez, Cubavisión Internacional: In this dialogue you are holding with the press today, we would like to take a look at one issue, which is the role of our countrymen abroad. I think that in this complex scenario they also have played a relevant role.

My concrete question is, what role does the Cuban government recognize for this community, both in economic support for their families and in defense of a more objective view of Cuba, in face of the media and political campaigns that seek to isolate our country?

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] Unquestionably, the number of Cubans residing abroad or who stay abroad longer has grown — it is high.  And therefore, it is our responsibility as a government to welcome them, listen to them, attend to them, and ensure they have a space for participating in our country’s economic and social development, based on their willingness to do so, their willingness to participate, and based on their possibilities for participation.

What distinguishes the greater part of this community of Cubans who reside abroad or who are based abroad for a time? Many of them are professionals or technicians; they are a fundamental component of the qualified workforce educated by the Revolution, by our educational system.

They are people who maintain their cultural roots, their identity, with Cuba’s culture and nation. They are people who maintain a relationship with their homeland. In difficult times like the ones we are experiencing, and at other times, we have received from them expressions of solidarity, of support; signs that they denounce pressures and policies that attempt to condemn our people.

[…]

It should be said that central leaders of the Revolution, during working visits to different countries in recent years, we are always seeking a space to meet with Cubans who reside in those countries, to listen to them, share with them what is happening, and also for them to raise their proposals and concerns.

[…]

Norland Rosendo, Cuban News Agency: Despite this very complicated scenario to isolate our country, in recent times we have received and are still receiving aid in solidarity. We would like to know, what is the Cuban government’s strategy for distributing those resources, and what are the control mechanisms to ensure that they arrive at their planned destinations?

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] Currently, we are receiving donations, and above all, there is a friendly country, a sister country, that has shown itself to be of tremendous stature, which is Mexico, led by its president, Claudia Sheinbaum — which has been tremendously firm in defending Cuba, and which we thank and respect and admire more every day — and from other countries.

[…]

Let’s talk about history. There is a long history, long experience with the way that international organizations, cooperation projects, institutions, Cuba solidarity organizations, governments, and friends in solidarity make donations to our country in a huge variety of ways. But our country also has organized a system of planning, distribution, oversight, and enormous experience with how to process these donations.

We receive donations of all types and in different circumstances. We get emergency donations, aid, in complex situations like the one we are now experiencing. We get donations during times of emergency, such as hurricanes or certain natural disasters. We get donations from friends in solidarity who want to help at a given moment, because of the commitment they make when they come and visit Cuba, and they see that a sector or a health center or a school might need something, and they want to donate. Donations come as part of cooperative projects that we have with different institutions, as part of the work of important agencies such as the World Food Program and the United Nations Development Fund.

How material aid to Cuba is distributed

What is considered when they make donations to us? The first thing is, we respect the donor’s purpose. If the donor says, I want these notebooks to go to a particular school, then those notebooks go to that school. If the donor has donated a solar-powered water pump for a community, then it goes to that community.

There are other donors who do not state a specific purpose, but rather a more general purpose: “Well, I am donating these photovoltaic system kits for the country’s polyclinics.”  What does our country do? It analyzes where the greatest need is and proposes it to the donor. “We propose that this donation of yours be prioritized for these particular polyclinics in the country,” and the purpose of that donation is fulfilled. That is how we interact.

There are others that are more general, that send donation items and that allow us, with our country’s criteria, based on priorities, to direct them to the vulnerable, to institutions that provide social services, such as maternity homes, homes for the elderly, orphanages, and health and education institutions or others. Generally, that is how we distribute them.

What is donated for the population, such as food, has never been sold; it is given away for free, and often has been part of what we have distributed as part of the family basket^[3] during those months in a given place, but without charging for it, because it is a donation. Our country does not benefit economically in any way; it is a social benefit, because it helps us, but there is nothing profitable about the donation.

[…]

Many of these institutions that participate with us, such as the Red Cross, the UN Development Fund, and the World Food Program, have representatives in Cuba and those representatives — who, moreover, are very active, and understand well the situation of the Cuban people — are constantly visiting the places to which [donations] are directed, and confirming on the ground the placement of those donations, and they have always expressed their satisfaction at the seriousness of our work in that regard. And also, the delegations of other countries with embassies, when donations enter because of certain government or institutional projects, the embassies also visit the sites and observe in situ, and they are given all of the information pertaining to those donations.

In fact, whenever there is a visit by someone from a country that has something to do with donations, we propose to them that their itinerary include a visit to the site of the donation they may have been involved with, so they can have some information to take back with them, so there is clarity and total transparency.

[…]

Armed, terrorist attack against Cuba

Leidys M. Labrador, Granma: A few days ago, an event was reported in our country that was very concerning, not just internally, but also beyond our borders, which was the attempted terrorist infiltration that occurred in our territory. […] We would like you to comment on the progress of investigations into this event, and it would also be interesting to know if cooperation exists between Cuba and the United States on clarifying these types of events.

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] The event is how it has been portrayed: an armed infiltration with terrorist goals, an infiltration financed and organized from within U.S. territory. As it was presented in the television report, they came heavily armed; therefore, that demonstrates their intentions and shatters the fallacy that certain Cuban counterrevolutionary right-wing characters are pushing, that they came in search of families.

First, with the number of weapons and equipment that they brought, no family would have fit on their boat; and second, is it necessary to come get families in Cuba armed with explosives, assault rifles, and all the military equipment they brought? Do they think we are fools, that they can confuse a whole people with such lies and trickery? Their intentions were to assault military units and social centers to create confusion and unrest, to sow fear. And that is an attempted act of aggression.

A criminal proceeding is underway with all guarantees of due process. For those detained, their families were immediately notified, and their families have had all appropriate contact with them. As for the injured, all medical needs have been attended to, they have expressed thanks for the medical attention, and moreover, their family members have been able to interact with them.

For the deceased, their families also were notified in a timely fashion; their families identified the bodies and have been involved in all of the procedures related to how their bodies have been treated. […]

But very important: in the investigations, they have all admitted their participation; they have all admitted that they fired, that they were the first to shoot at the boat of our Coast Guard, of our Border Guard. They have provided very interesting details, which will be reported as investigations continue, about who recruited them, who trained them, who organized them, where they did their training, and who financed them. They have given the names of the people, places, and intentions, of what was proposed to them, of what was intended. Two of the detainees are on our country’s national list of individuals and entities designated as terrorists, which have also been circulated to international institutions.

Of course, this information was provided in a timely manner to U.S. counterparts. The U.S. counterparts have been informed and have expressed thanks for the information provided. By way of consular diplomatic channels, they have expressed their willingness to participate jointly in clarifying the events, and we are waiting for a possible visit, already announced, by FBI experts, to participate in this clarification and in investigations with the forces of our Ministry of the Interior. […]

Two days after the infiltration occurred, we and the minister of the Interior, comrade Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, visited the health institution where the commander of the Cuban vessel is being treated. A young man, trained by our Revolution in the organs of our Ministry of the Interior, with long experience in the Border Guard. […]

Comrades, that man —  his family, mother, wife —  they are from a very humble family. His mother is a doctor; his wife is a teacher. He was doing everything to explain to us —  not his injury or his pain, but the fulfillment of his duty. And you tried to ask him, how are you feeling? Does it hurt? And he: Fulfilling my duty!

And he described to us how he got injured, how he stayed at the helm of his boat, and when his strength was no longer enough, he asked one of his comrades to take command of the operation. He had to lie down, he was bleeding, totally debilitated, but he could hear everything that was happening. [He expressed] a tremendous pride in having stopped that infiltration, in having prevented pain the Cuban people would have felt if those individuals had managed to land and achieve their objectives.

And I am saying these things because many are the lessons in our country in these difficult times: that of our 32 comrades fallen in battle in Venezuela, that of these five combatants of the [… ] Border Guard […] that strengthen our convictions and uplift us in such difficult times!

[…]

Cuba’s relations with the world

Yoanny Duardo, Radio Reloj:  The Ecuadorian government recently declared the personnel of our embassy in that country persona non grata. There was a summit that was clearly seeking to revive the policies of the United States and Organization of American States to isolate Cuba.^[4]

My question is: what is the position of the revolutionary government in the face of this new act of aggression by the U.S. government?

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] Let’s look at the context. What is something that distinguishes Cuba in the eyes of the world? What distinguishes Cuba in its relations with the world? What is it that Cuba offers the world? Broad, active, friendly ties of cooperation and solidarity. That is what marks Cuba’s relations with the rest of the world. We are a country that has diplomatic relations with most countries in the world. Moreover, they are broad ties with their peoples, people to people, with friends in the whole world.

Cuba has cooperated in the development of countries, with government programs. Wherever Cuban men and women have been on missions, there is extremely high recognition of the role they have played; those are the stories of our medical and educational missions, construction brigades, and workers. Likewise, in places where we went to fight, at the request of governments, above all in Africa, in African countries, there is recognition of how our combatants and our officers conducted themselves.

Therefore, I would say what distinguishes Cuba are precisely those virtues, those values that cause admiration for Cuba, not rejection. That is the sentiment that predominates in most of these relations, and among those who participate in these relations.

Of course, in Latin America and the Caribbean, our Patria Grande [Great Homeland], our America, those ties are stronger, they are more intimate, closer; they have to do with the whole history of each one of our countries, with all of these relations.

[…]

Now in history, it must also be recognized that the U.S. government — since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution —  these governments, because it has been all of them, have insisted strongly on trying to isolate our country. […]

Another element worth noting: Relations between governments are not the same as relations between peoples. You can have a government, such as the one mentioned in your question, that succumbs to pressures brought against it by another government, and in order to make a gesture, a gesture of “lackeyism” — I don’t know if that is the right word — decides to expel a diplomatic mission with no justification or argument, violating every international law, the Vienna Convention, and all of those things.

But the friendship between the Cuban people and the Ecuadorian people is historic and indestructible, just as indestructible as the relations between Cuba and the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. It cannot be destroyed by any government’s decision, and the peoples know what side justice is on.

Therefore, a deep relationship will continue to exist between Ecuadorians and Cubans. And sooner rather than later, those relations will be put back together.

[…]

Antonio Matos, Radio Rebelde: Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a press release saying, “In the spirit of good will, and of close, fluid relations between the Cuban state and the Vatican, the Cuban government has decided to release in the coming days 51 people sentenced to imprisonment.” What can you tell us about that?

Miguel M. Díaz-Canel: […] It is a sovereign practice; no one imposes it on us. […] It is not unique; we have done it at other times. In fact, the press release provides information on other times we have done that. […] You will note […] these are individuals who have maintained good conduct. […]

As always, prepare yourselves. Now the media intoxication will take hold, the search for connections with other events, the distortion of reality. But no worries, we have made a sovereign decision, and there it is.

[…]

(This was the second of two parts. The first can be found in Part I.)

NOTES

[1] “Budgeted units” refers to state-financed enterprises or institutions (such as schools and health care).

[2] In 1953, Cuban revolutionaries led an assault on the Moncada military barracks in Santiago de Cuba. The assault failed, but while in prison, Fidel Castro and his comrades formed the July 26^th Movement, which led the revolutionary war against the Batista dictatorship and was instrumental in the formation of the revolutionary party that led the country after the defeat of that U.S.-backed regime.

[3] Every Cuban family has access to a range of basic commodities at an affordable price, or the “family food basket.” This system — sometimes called “rationing” — does not restrict access to these commodities, but guarantees essential staples based on the number of people and their nutritional requirements.

[4] On March 7, U.S. president Donald Trump organized the “Shield of the Americas” summit at his golf club in Miami, which was attended by government officials from 12 countries — Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. Under the guise of “fighting drug cartels,” the summit aimed at minimizing China’s influence in the region and isolating Cuba.

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