Speech delivered by Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, at the event condemning the military aggression against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and supporting its legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro Moros, and the Popular, Military and Police Fusion, held at the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribune on January 3, 2026, "Year of the Centennial of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz"
(Shorthand version - Presidency of the Republic)
Down with imperialism! (Exclamations of: “Down!”)
Down with imperialism! (Exclamations of: “Down!”)
Down with genocidal, immoral, and fascist imperialism! (Exclamations of: “Down!”)
Brothers and sisters of Venezuela and all of our America;
Citizens of the world;
Brother Maneiro, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Cuba;
Compatriots:
Our Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz, analyzing the dangerous behavior of imperialism in its predatory advance on independent nations of the Middle East, said more than twenty years ago:
"Never before have all the nations of the world been subjected to the power and whims of those who govern a superpower with seemingly limitless power, whose philosophy, political ideas, and notions of ethics no one understands in the slightest. Their decisions are practically unpredictable and unappealable. The force and capacity to destroy and kill seem to be present in every one of their pronouncements."
These words seem to have been spoken today to describe the brutal and treacherous attack by U.S. military forces against Venezuela and the unacceptable, vulgar, and barbaric kidnapping of our brother, President Nicolás Maduro, and his partner, Cilia Flores. (Applause)
Cuba condemns and denounces these actions as an act of state terrorism; a criminal assault against our America, a Zone of Peace; a violation of the sovereignty of a nation that is a symbol of independence, dignity, and solidarity; and an unacceptable attack on International Law.
No, imperialist gentlemen, this is not your backyard, nor is it disputed territory! We neither accept nor recognize the Monroe Doctrine, nor outdated kings or emperors! The land of Bolívar is sacred, and an attack on its children is an attack on all the worthy children of our America! (Applause.)
And as Abel mentioned, for Venezuela, and of course also for Cuba, we are prepared to give even our own blood, even our own lives, but at a very high price! (Applause.)
The attack in the early hours of the morning on a peaceful and noble people can only be described as cowardly, criminal, and treacherous.
It is an act of state terrorism, carried out arbitrarily and abusing military supremacy, at the behest of a foreign leader, as an unequivocal expression of fascism, or rather, of the neo-fascism that they seek to impose and establish upon all of humanity in these turbulent times.
Therefore, the threat is not only to Venezuela; the threat is against all of humanity. And it is based on the fallacious doctrine of “peace through strength.”
This act of state terrorism that has just occurred in Venezuela is a scandalous violation of the norms of International Law: military aggression against a peaceful nation, which poses no threat to the United States, and the kidnapping of a legitimate President, sovereignly elected by his people. This is outrageous, and that is why we, the outraged, are here!
There can be no silence or acceptance of this act of state terrorism, comparable only to the crimes against humanity committed by Israeli Zionism in the Gaza Strip (Applause).
This morning we witnessed a chilling confirmation: the most fervent contender for the Nobel Peace Prize is, in reality, the greatest threat to peace on the continent (Applause). His treacherous attack on Venezuela shatters the stability that has characterized our Latin American and Caribbean region for years.
Those who celebrate the terrorist and fascist act, as Gerardo explained, that the United States has just committed against a sovereign nation of the continent can only do so from a place of hatred that clouds their judgment. No one even remotely informed can ignore or underestimate the grave implications of such criminal acts for regional and global peace.
That is why it is urgent that the international community mobilize, organize, and coordinate in denouncing this flagrant act of state terrorism and the illegal, immoral, and criminal kidnapping of a legitimate President to bring about regime change, as if someone foreign to the Venezuelan people had that right.
The target is not our brother Maduro, nor the Venezuelan military, nor even the fallacious narrative of drug trafficking that was cynically perpetuated for weeks and months by bandits of the worst kind, like Marco Rubio. The very dark object of imperialist desire is Venezuelan oil, the lands and natural resources of Venezuela.
Only cynics and cowards can turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the declarations of Trump and his cronies, who just days ago shamelessly admitted that what they seek are Venezuela's riches—riches openly and without limits promised to them by the empire's candidate. And now, news is circulating that they will support her to become president of Venezuela.
The objective is also to extinguish that bastion of resistance to imperialism and defense of regional integration that is the Bolivarian Revolution, established since Commander Chávez came to power in that heroic nation.
The Bolivarian Revolution has proven to be a mass movement, with deep popular roots, and we have no doubt that the people will come out to defend their sovereignty, their democracy, and their President, as they did in April 2002 against the coup d'état also instigated by the U.S. empire, which has never abandoned its attempt to seize their oil (Applause).
The United States has no moral or legal authority whatsoever to forcibly remove the Venezuelan President from his country! But the United States is indeed responsible to the world for Maduro's physical safety! (Applause.)
We join the call of the Venezuelan authorities demanding proof that Maduro and Cilia are alive.
For months they have been weaving the false accusation of narco-terrorism against the Venezuelan government and have been unable to present a single shred of evidence to support it. They haven't done so because such evidence doesn't exist, because such practices don't exist, because it all stems from a narrative designed to justify this outrageous act of state terrorism they have just committed.
From within their own federal agencies, U.S. analysts and researchers have been offering opinions and information that refute the false narrative of narco-terrorism, that debunk these accusations against Venezuela and its President.
It is outrageous that Trump, Rubio, and their cronies don't care about the truth. They are the ones who should be condemned by an international anti-fascist tribunal! (Applause.)
The fascists who are in power in the United States today learned very well from their Nazi role models the Goebbels' principle that a lie repeated a thousand times can become the truth. But the truth will prevail, and the people will defend it as they triumphed over and defeated Hitler's fascism in the past.
Neither the Venezuelan people, nor the American people, nor the international community believe the string of lies they have been constructing.
These are not times for half measures; these are times for defining ones and taking a stand against fascism and imperial barbarism! (Applause.)
Let us close ranks, peoples of the Americas, let us not allow the Giant with seven league boots to pass us by!
Let us not forget what Che Guevara warned six decades ago: "…imperialism cannot be trusted, not even a little bit." (Applause.)
Nicolás and Cilia are from Venezuela, and they must be returned to the Venezuelan people who elected and demand their legitimate President (Applause).
Down with imperialism! (Exclamations of: "Down!")
Down with imperialism! (Exclamations of: "Down!")
Down with imperialism! (Exclamations of: "Down!")
The people united will never be defeated! (Exclamations of: "The people united will never be defeated!")
Cuba and Venezuela, united they will prevail! (Exclamations of: “Cuba and Venezuela, one flag!")
Homeland or Death!
Socialism or Death!
We shall overcome!
(Applause.)
