A marcher holds a framed composite image of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana, May 1, 2025
US THREATS to Cuban revolutionary leader Raul Castro reek of the extraterritorial arrogance of a thuggish imperial power.
They indicate too that the extreme economic war Washington is waging to break the Cuban people could escalate to a direct military attack very soon.
The charges levelled at the 94-year-old former president of Cuba — a veteran of the 1959 revolution and a communist even before his great brother Fidel — are a sick joke.
Claiming the Cuban military shooting down a plane belonging to the terrorist, Miami exile-based Brothers to the Rescue outfit that had violated Cuban airspace back in the 1990s amounts to murder is to deny Havana the basic rights of a sovereign state — to protect its borders and its people.
But then, Washington has denied Cuba those basic rights for over 60 years.
…
The United States hates Cuba because it demonstrates that another world is possible — that a country can export doctors not bombs, stand for peace not war, socialism and equality not capitalist exploitation.
Those are exactly the reasons Cuba must survive. Every pressure must be brought to bear on our government to call out Trump’s lawless aggression and maximum solidarity and practical assistance to the island mobilised via the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.
The Asian Katra cargo ship (top left) arrives in Havana Bay in Havana, Cuba, May 18, 2026
A SHIP laden with humanitarian aid from the governments of Mexico and Uruguay has arrived in Cuba to help ease the effects of the illegal US blockade.
The cargo of the ship, which sailed from a Mexican port, includes personal hygiene items and 1,700 tons of grains, powdered milk and other food, according to a statement published by Cuban media.
Food Industry Minister Alberto Lopez Diaz said the items had arrived “at a time of great economic hardship, exacerbated by the tightening of the blockade imposed on our country by the US government.”
The US has been ratcheting up pressure as it seeks an indictment against Cuba’s former president Raul Castro over his alleged role in the 1996 downing of four planes operated by Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as US President Donald Trump meets with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“Like any country, Cuba has the right to defend itself against external aggression,” said the Cuban embassy. “It is called self-defense, and it is protected by International Law and the UN Charter.”
Cuban officials said the Trump administration is making “increasingly implausible accusations” against the country as it pushes to justify, “without any excuse, a military attack against Cuba,” after an unnamed White House official told the news outlet Axios that the Cubans have been “discussing plans” to launch drones against the US.
“Cuba is the country under attack,” said the Cuban embassy in a statement, months into a ramped-up oil blockade by the US that has left the island’s electric grid in a “critical state” and forced frequent rolling blackouts as well as causing a healthcare crisis, with tens of thousands of people waiting for surgeries.
But in Axios’ article, the Trump administration official took pains to push the notion that the US, with its nearly $1 trillion-per-year military, could face attacks from the tiny Caribbean nation 90 miles south of Florida because officials there have been preparing defensive capabilities.
Axios reported that, according to classified intelligence it viewed, Cuba has acquired more than 300 drones and has been considering plans to attack the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, various US military vessels, and Key West, Florida.
The country has been acquiring drones from Russia and Iran since 2023 and has sought more aid from Russia in recent months, according to the report. Intelligence intercepts have also shown Cuba is “trying to learn about how Iran has resisted us,” the official said, referring to Iran’s use of unmanned aircraft, its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and its attacks on US military outposts in the Middle East in response to the US-Israel war on the country that began in February.
The Cuban embassy further responded with a reminder that “like any country, Cuba has the right to defend itself against external aggression.”
Like any country, Cuba has the right to defend itself against external aggression. It is called self-defense, and it is protected by International Law and the UN Charter.
Those from the US who seek the submission and, in fact, the destruction of the Cuban…
“Those from the US who seek the submission and, in fact, the destruction of the Cuban nation through military aggression and war, do not waste a single moment fabricating pretexts, creating and spreading falsehoods, and distorting as extraordinary the logical preparation required to face a potential aggression,” said the embassy.
Journalist José Luis Granados Ceja, who is based in Mexico City and covers Latin America for Drop Site News, emphasized that “Cuba has the right to self-defense.”
“It would be arguably be wise for Cuba to incorporate a tool that has proven to be an extraordinary effective weapon and a powerful tool of dissuasion as part of its self-defense strategy,” said Granados Ceja.
Axios said the classified intelligence “could become a pretext for US military action” that President Donald Trump has expressed an interest in taking numerous times, before acknowledging toward the end of the article that “US officials don’t believe Cuba is an imminent threat, or actively planning to attack American interests.”
Rather, the intelligence showed that Cuban officials “have been discussing drone warfare plans in case hostilities erupt as relations with the US continue to deteriorate”—suggesting they could use drones in self-defense if attacked by the US.
.@Axios fabricates a "drone threat", only to confess paragraphs later: "US officials don't believe Cuba is actively planning to attack." This contradictory disinformation is a transparent, ludicrous pretext to justify US hostility. We categorically reject these baseless smears. https://t.co/YPgwket1p6
The reporting carried echoes of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s rationale for attacking Iran in February. He stunned legal experts days after the war began by explaining that the US had decided to wage war on the Middle Eastern country because it feared Iran would retaliate after Israel began attacking it.
“The imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us,” Rubio said.
The claim that Cuba’s reported preparations make the island a threat to US security “is a lie—with purpose,” said David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International.
“Marco Rubio and his stenographers at Axios are manufacturing consent for the invasion of Cuba,” said Adler. “To fall for this flimsy propaganda is to fail the most basic test of civic literacy. And the stakes are millions of Cuban lives off our coast.”
Cuban drone attack with Iranian help? Now we know why Rubio has been hammering the message that Cuba is a threat and host to U.S. adversaries.
It reads like something out of a bad spy novel, but this regime-change propaganda represents a very real danger. https://t.co/bq1TAbLNt1
— José Luis Granados Ceja (@GranadosCeja) May 17, 2026
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has long sought regime change in the socialist country.
Axios’ reporting came days after CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba to pressure officials into complying with US demands, likely including political and economic reforms, heightening fears that the US could be planning a military attack unless the country complies.
White House officials also told CBS News Friday that the Department of Justice is preparing to criminally indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro for shooting down planes that belonged to a US group that had flown into Cuba’s airspace in the 1990s. In January, US forces invaded Venezuela and abducted President Nicolás Maduro, bringing him to the US where he was charged with drug trafficking, and pleaded not guilty.
Former Obama administration staffer and Pod Save America co-host Tommy Vietor said Sunday that “lots of signals pointing towards an imminent US regime change operation against Cuba.”
“The latest,” he said of the Axios article, “is this blatant effort to launder a pretext for war through the media.”
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms, small Orca speaks bluntly.
US President Donald Trump is depicted in a Cuba-themed Lego-style video inspired by the viral pro-Iran clip series. (Photo by screen shot/Tere Felipe/X)
Content creator María Teresa Felipe Sosa hailed Cubans as “a people who refuse to submit to the true regime of horror, which the United States represents, as it goes around starting wars throughout the world.”
As the team at Tehran-based Explosive Media keeps churning out viral artificial intelligence-generated Lego-style animated videos condemning the US-Israeli war on Iran, a Cuban version of the clips reacting to President Donald Trump’s threats to attack the island appeared Monday on social media.
First posted by Havana art historian and digital content creator María Teresa Felipe Sosa, the video was shared by users including US investigative journalist Ryan Grim and Explosive Media, which added, “Welcome to the #LRF Cuba,” or Lego Resistance Front.
“The threat that Cuba represents to the United States is the dignity and principles of a people who refuse to submit to the true regime of horror, which the United States represents, as it goes around starting wars throughout the world,” Felipe said Tuesday on social media.
They seek to stifle the lifeblood of this land with the talons of empire and the drums of war, from the north they unleash their poisonous breath seeking to seize what belongs to others. But this soil has roots of steel and a people who cannot be bought with money.
They raise walls of hatred and lies while the island, relying on its own strength, breathes amid 60 years of constant hostile siege—yet we continue to march forward with a firm step. There is no threat that can break our faith; the Cuban knows well how to stand tall.
Here dignity has neither price nor master; we are the guardians of our own dream. My people, stand tall, with fists held high against the invader and their dark assault.
There’s no surrender beneath this burning sun, for it’s known that the homeland must be defended. Resist my brother with your head held high for every victory in the battle-hardened struggle, your love is the compass of our people, for you know that the homeland must be defended.
With no victory in sight in the US-Israeli war on Iran and the American people increasingly wary of yet another war of choice waged by the self-described “president of peace” who’s now attacked 10 countries over the course of his two terms in office, even some Republican lawmakers are warning Trump against attacking Cuba.
Asked if he would support such an attack, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) told The Hill on Tuesday, “No, I would not.”
“There’s a lot of economic pressure you can put on Cuba that makes a big difference by itself,” the hawkish senator added.
Numerous Democratic lawmakers have consistently opposed any attack on Cuba; however Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) recently helped sink a Senate war powers resolution aimed at blocking Trump from attacking the country.
More than 6 in 10 Americans surveyed by multiple pollsters in recent months said they oppose a US war on Cuba.
Responding to the renewed US menace under Trump, Felipe recently wrote that “the current threats aren’t anything new, they only confirm a dangerous insistence—that of replacing international law with the law of the strongest.”
“In the face of that, Cuba responds with an uncomfortable and persistent idea—its people does not give up,” she continued. “Cuba is not seeking confrontation. It demands respect. And history, although some prefer to ignore it, has been clear—independence is not negotiated under threat.”
“Once again,” Felipe added, “and against all imperial odds, Cuba will win.”
Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of PeaceOrcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptomsDonald Trump warns against following the Onaquietday.org blog, says that he’s heard that she’s a witch with a black cat and a dangerous kitchen.
A marcher holds a framed composite image of Fidel Castro, Raul Castro and Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel, during the May Day parade at Revolution Square in Havana, May 1, 2025
