Cuba’s president cautions US against targeting island or trying to remove him
FILE-Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel gives a welcome speech to participants of the Our America International Convoy at the Convention Palace in Havana on March 20, 2026. (Photo by ADALBERTO ROQUE / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel admonished the U.S. to avoid conducting a military attack against the island or an attempt to remove him.
Diaz-Canel said in an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press that an invasion of Cuba would be expensive and impact regional security, the Associated Press reported.
RELATED: Trump hints at 'friendly takeover' of Cuba
Speaking through a translator, Diaz-Canel told NBC News’ Meet the Press, "If the time comes, I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the U.S. to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president."
Diaz-Canel’s comments come amid tensions between Cuba and the U.S. despite talks between both countries.
Why are there tensions between the U.S. and Cuba?
The backstory: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has accused the U.S. government of implementing a "hostile policy" against Cuba and said it has "no moral to demand anything from Cuba," The Associated Press reported.
Díaz-Canel noted that Cuba is interested in discussing any topic without conditions, "not demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts."
According to the AP, Cuba blames a U.S. energy blockade for its deepening troubles, with a lack of petroleum impacting the island’s health system, public transportation and production of goods and services.
Cuba produces roughly 40% of the fuel it uses, and it stopped receiving oil shipment from Venezuela after the U.S. military attacked the South American country in January, captured President Nicolás Maduro, and transported him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
President Donald Trump said in February that the U.S. "could very well" have a "friendly takeover" of Cuba, a communist-run island that has been among Washington, D.C.’s biggest foes for years.
In March, a Russian tanker transporting 730,000 barrels of crude oil in Cuba was the island’s first oil shipment in three months. Despite threatening tariffs in countries that sell or furnish oil to Cuba, the Trump administration allowed the tanker to go forward.
The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Associated Press, which cites comments from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel in an interview with NBC. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.