Cuba's president says 'we would die' to defend against U.S. invasion

Source: NBC News

April 12, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT


President Miguel Díaz-Canel stood by Cuba’s leadership and didn’t concede a need for any changes to its government amid President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the communist country.

In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in Havana on Thursday, Díaz-Canel said there’s no “justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba.”

“An invasion to Cuba would have costs. ... It would affect the security of Cuba, the United States and of the region,” he said through a translator in his first American broadcast interview.

“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘Dying for the homeland is to live,’” the Cuban president said. “Before making that decision, which is so irrational, there is a logic, that is, the logic of dialogue, to engage in discussions, to debate and try to reach agreements that would move us away from confrontation,” Díaz-Canel said.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/world/cuba/diaz-canel-invasion-trump-nbc-news-interview-rcna273638