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Cuba says it will “never again” become a colony after Trump map, vows to defend independence “to the very end”

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuba would never again become a colony and would defend its independence after Donald Trump published an expansive map featuring the island's region.
  • Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez mocked the map, saying it would leave US citizens geographically disoriented.
  • The statements came amid heightened tensions, US sanctions and an economic crisis that has left Cuba's economy nearly paralyzed by an energy shortage.

Cuba has told the United States that it will “never again” become a colony, after Donald Trump published a map whose US flag colors covered Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

Cuba knows well what it means to have been a colony and a neocolony of two empires.

· Miguel Díaz-CanelThe Cuban president invoked the island's colonial history while rejecting any return to colonial rule.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuba knows the meaning of having been a colony and a neocolony of two empires. Without explicitly naming Trump's post on Truth Social, he said the blood shed for Cuba's independence, sovereignty and self-determination would not have been wasted. “We will defend them to the very end,” he wrote on social media.

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez directly referred to Trump's publication and responded with irony. “The US government is going to leave its citizens geographically disoriented,” Rodríguez wrote. “Soon they will not know which gulf, lake, building, country, continent or planet they are in.”

The blood that has been shed for its independence, sovereignty and self-determination will not have been in vain, and we will defend them to the very end.

· Miguel Díaz-CanelHe vowed to defend Cuba's independence and sovereignty.

The Cuban government's statements came as Havana and Washington face their highest tensions in decades, against the backdrop of a severe internal crisis in Cuba and a US policy of “maximum pressure” that began in early 2026. The measures included an oil blockade and secondary sanctions imposed since May, which Cuba says have driven away foreign companies. Washington has also long maintained the possibility of military intervention in the background.

The US government is going to leave its citizens geographically disoriented.

· Bruno RodríguezCuba's foreign minister mocked Trump's map.

Rodríguez said the US economic embargo cost Cuba $8.0833 billion between March 1, 2025, and February 28, 2026, the highest figure recorded and 7% more than in the previous period. He described the recent measures by the Trump administration as “cruel collective punishment.” Cuba's economy is now nearly paralyzed by the energy crisis. It contracted 15% between 2020 and 2025, and independent forecasts cited in the article suggest it could shrink by as much as 10.3% this year.

Soon they will not know which gulf, lake, building, country, continent or planet they are in.

· Bruno RodríguezRodríguez continued his sarcastic response to the map.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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