The world is looking elsewhere. Other conflicts dominate the headlines. But Cuba is under attack. Wars these days are fought not only on the battlefield. There is a simultaneous information war being waged to shape perception through deception and gain a psychological advantage. This is something more subtle. More dangerous. In Cuba, the goal is to break the Cuban peoples resistance from within.

In late January 2026, the United States government issued an Executive Order. It declared Cuba an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’. Then, between February 1st and 15th, a fierce digital campaign was unleashed. It was filled with calls for violence and civil disobedience. By calling Cuba an ‘unusual and extraordinary threat’, the US wants to malign Cuba as an ‘axis of evil’; a ‘terrorist threat’, a ‘geopolitical danger’ and a ‘State where there are no human rights or democracy’. This manipulation is subtle. Its objective is to sow doubt and prepare the ground for external intervention.

Importantly, all of this is intended to prevent the world from recognising the US economic blockade as the real reason for the problems confronting Cuba. The hardships confronting Cuba are a direct consequence of economic war waged by the US. They are a result of ‘the cumulative effect of 67 years of blockade’, as stated by Miguel Díaz-Canel, the President of Cuba. 80 per cent of the Cubans are born under economic blockade and lived their entire lives under these conditions.

The blockade has not been static. It has grown crueler over time. The year 2019 was a turning point as it saw a dramatic intensification. Under the first Trump administration, Title III of the Helms-Burton Act was applied for the first time. It threatens any country or company that trades with Cuba with restrictions, sanctions and punishes them. Companies worldwide were forced to give undertakings to the US promising not to trade with Cuba. Even if a minor part of their equipment was manufactured in the US, they had to comply. Given the dominance of the dollar and US financial institutions, many companies succumbed.

243 new measures were adopted that tightened the blockade further. Cuba was placed on the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. The goal was to subjugate the socialist country and force a change in its social system. There is a bitter irony here. This blockade negates the very precepts of capitalism and imperialism, which champion the free market, by denying Cuba access to those same markets. The blockade is hence absurd and perverse. Cuba is targeted because it is an ‘example’ of resistance against the US.

The Real Consequences

The effects of the blockade are measured in human suffering. Cuba's main sources of foreign currency financing were cut off. Tourism was blocked. US citizens were prohibited from coming. Even Cuban Americans face severe restrictions. A significant flow of income simply stopped. Shortages of food and medicine began. Transportation collapsed. Parts of the economy ground to a halt.

Without foreign currency, Cuba could not acquire fuel. It could not purchase spare parts for its power system. Thermoelectric plants were already aging. They were overused. Now they could not be maintained. The import of petroleum products became a major crisis. Shipping agencies refused to carry oil to Cuba. They feared US sanctions. Electricity production was badly hit. Power cuts were introduced across many areas. Transportation was also affected. Limited fuel meant limited mobility. People could not go to work. They could not go to school. They could not access basic services.

As result of the blockade Cuba could not “achieve what we have wanted” as President Díaz-Canel stated. “Many dreams, we have not been able to realise”.

The Assault on Healthcare

Sanctions severely impact Cuba's ability to produce medicines and vaccines. Raw materials became scarce. Essential equipment, like ventilators for critical patients could not be imported. Cuba could not import raw materials for its pharmaceutical industry. This prevented the development of medicines for various diseases. Despite such blockade, Cuba successfully developed five vaccine candidates to combat Covid during the pandemic. These were supplied to many needy countries. More than fifty-one nations received Cuban assistance. This included not only Latin American and African countries but also advanced countries like Italy.

The most draconian measures targeted medical cooperation. The US threatened countries that had medical agreements with Cuba. Brazil and Ecuador were forced to send Cuban doctors back home. These doctors had been serving poor communities.

Due to the sanctions, healthcare in Cuba is suffering. Today, more than 120,000 people are on waiting lists for surgeries because hospitals lack electricity. Among those waiting surgeries, there are more than 11,000 children. Operating rooms lack power. Supplies are missing for many procedures. Under normal conditions, even under non-intensified blockade conditions, those surgeries would be performed. But these are not normal conditions.

Education is affected. Educational platforms depend on connectivity. They depend on digital transformation and artificial intelligence.

Yet even under these conditions, Cuba maintains infant mortality rates. It maintains maternal mortality rates. It maintains health and educational indicators on par with developed countries.

When there is no power, base stations do not work. Transportation fails. Water supply stops. Most water sources run on electricity. The blockade prevents the State and the government from acting.

The US wants to create a climate of fear and uncertainty in Cuba through complete economic collapse. To fuel discontent, the US openly encouraged subversive activities. It funds the Cuban mafia based in Miami. It encourages acts of subversion aimed at toppling the socialist State.

The Creativity of Resistance and Solidarity in Action

Cubans are not influenced by the US propaganda. They are coping with the difficulties through solidarity and trying to overcome them with creativity. To overcome the scarcity of cooking gas, people have developed highly efficient wood-burning stoves; at the community level, neighbours set up communal kitchens. They cook for several households at once.

Many families have acquired solar panels, which they share. They let people charge their motorcycles, phones, or tablets. Motorcycles and electric tricycles are being assembled. Electric tricycles used by individuals are now used for transporting passengers, converted into vans for goods. Some have been even customised for patients who need hemodialysis. Tricycles have even been adapted for funeral services. Some include amenities like televisions and screens. They bring cultural and informational activities to the population.

In hospitals, in the absence of lifts and electricity, patients are carried in the arms of doctors and medical personnel. Dr Andy Hernández Álvarez, working in a top cancer hospital in Havana states that for them, hospitals are “not a building”; they are “a living, beating heart”.

Yet another example of creativity can be seen when two young, recently graduated engineers repaired a donated anesthesia machine. The donors had been unable to send the software needed to make it work. The engineers solved the problem. When the US refused to sell ventilators, young Cuban scientists developed their own. Those ventilators are now certified for high performance. At the González Coro Hospital, newborns are on mechanical ventilation and every time the generator fails, they resort to ‘manual ventilation’. That is not just resistance, but also creation.

These showcase the Cuban spirit of resilience, solidarity and joy of living.

Energy Independence

Cuba has oil resources to meet 40 per cent of its energy needs. It has increased its production by drilling more wells. Cuban petroleum scientists developed new refining methodology. Crude oil extraction, produces associated gas. The Cubans are generating electricity from this gas. If oil production increases, so does associated gas output. In January and February, Cuba reversed the decline in oil and associated gas production. They surpassed last year's figures.

They are treating solid waste to produce gas for cooking. The waste generated from sugar sector is also used for electricity generation.

Last year, Cuba managed to install 1,000 MW of photovoltaic parks across the country in a single year. Penetration of electricity generation from renewable sources went from three percent to ten percent. That is growth of seven percent in a single year. China helped in this endeavour.

Despite the US blockade, Cuba received aid from Russia, China, Mexico and other countries. Vietnam sent ship loads of rice. Mexico sent medicines. For past three months, not a single drop of fuel entered the country. Only a few day back a Russian tanker reached Cuba to deliver much needed fuel. Recently a group of solidarity activists collected medicines and personally delivered them to Cuba. They also collected and delivered photovoltaic systems for healthcare and equipment for alternative modes of power generation. Determined to use alternative sources for energy production, Miguel Canal Diaz stated: “They (the US imperialists) cannot block the sun. They cannot block the air”.

The Unbreakable Spirit

According to US propaganda, Cuba is about to collapse. This of course is a chimera. It is blind to the multiple forms of daily resistance; the revolutionary institutions and the community organisations that keep the country alive.

One image defines this reality. Silvio Rodríguez, a 79-year old legendary singer, said: “If they (the US) come in, let them (Cuba) give me my AKM (a Cuban assault rifle)”. President Díaz-Canel commented: “Silvio is a symbol of the conviction held by the majority of the Cuban people. We do not want war….But if that space does not materialise, we are prepared. I tell you this with deep conviction. I share with my family that we would give our lives for the revolution”.

Cuba was always willing to engage in dialogue with the US. This is not new. It has been the position of the revolution from the beginning. Dialogue based on respect and equality. Without pressure or conditions. Cuba stated that they would not accept any conditions or demands that Cuba change its political system. “Sovereignty is not up for discussion. Independence is not up for discussion”.

Diaz-Canel continues: “revolutionaries always prepare for the worst-case scenario. If you overcome the worst-case scenario, you can overcome any scenario. Right now, a plan is being developed to enhance the defence readiness of the entire people. The concept of a people's war is not offensive. It is defensive. It defends the country's sovereignty and independence with popular participation. Every Cuban knows what role they must play. The majority of the people are willing to face that”.

 Díaz-Canel puts it simply: “We will not surrender”.

The United States should remember the words of Lenin. They apply today more than ever. “Don't try to scare us, gentlemen. You won't succeed. You will not scare the workers and soldiers with this, gentlemen”.

Cuba will not be scared. Cuba will not be broken. The blockade is cruel. The propaganda is relentless. But the Cuban people know their reality. They live it every day. They resist it every day. They overcome it every day.

The US cannot win this war. Not because Cuba has more weapons. Not because Cuba has more money. But because Cuba has something the empire can never understand.

It has the truth. It has achieved what powers with far greater financial resources have failed to achieve. Social justice. Equity. Popular participation. The unity of the Cuban people.

Cuba has survived sixty-seven years of blockade. A failed state could not do that. It has sustained social welfare programs. Cuba's social indicators are remarkable.

The Communist Party of Cuba believes in the human race. They believe that most people in the world, regardless of creed or ideology, are good people. Cuba has proven to be a just cause. It is a cause embraced by the majority of the planet.

The sun still rises over Havana. The communities still organise. The doctors still carry patients up seven flights of stairs. The engineers still repair the unrepairable. The neighbours still share their solar power. No executive order can change that. No digital campaign can break that. No blockade can destroy that.

Cuba stands. Cuba resists. Cuba will continue to be an example to the world.