Cuba Says It Will Go To War With The U.S.

• 18.03.2026, 11:35

The communist regime has only old Soviet equipment in its arsenal.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has reacted to US President Donald Trump's statement that he will "take" Cuba as the "island of freedom" is weakened. The Cuban president said there would be resistance, but only Soviet equipment remains in Cuba.

"Faced with the worst-case scenario, Cuba is sure of one thing: any external aggressor will meet unrelenting resistance," Diaz-Canel wrote in a microblogging X on Tuesday, March 17.

The Cuban president said the U.S. threatens Cuba almost daily in public to violently overthrow the constitutional order. And they are using an "outrageous pretext" to do so: severe restrictions on a weakened economy they have been attacking and trying to isolate for more than six decades.

"They intend and announce plans to take over the country, its resources, its property and even the very economy they seek to strangle and subjugate. This is the only way to explain the fierce economic war launched as collective punishment against the entire population," Diaz-Canel said.

The crisis in Cuba has worsened amid the ongoing U.S. oil embargo. On March 16, a national-scale blackout occurred on the island, leaving the entire population of 10 million people without electricity. By the morning of March 17, power had been restored to two-thirds of the country's population, including 45 percent of the capital Havana, home to 1.7 million people.

While speaking to reporters, Donald Trump said that "he would be honored to take Cuba."

"Take Cuba. I mean, free her, take her. I think I can do whatever I want to do with it. It's a very weakened country right now," the U.S. president said.

Communist Cuba tried to make concessions. On the morning of March 16, Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva indicated that Havana was "ready for flexible trade relations with U.S. companies and Cubans and their descendants living in the United States."

But United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who, though of Cuban roots, opposes the communist government of Liberty Island, called the concession insufficient for the free-market reforms the Trump administration would like to see in Cuba.

"What they announced yesterday (March 16 - ed.) is not dramatic enough. It's not helpful. So they're going to have some big decisions to make," Rubio said.

Cuba's Army - What Liberty Island Can Counter the U.S.

As of March 2026, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR - Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias) remain one of the least modernized armies in the world.

Cuba has about 800 Soviet T-62M, T-55 and T-54 tanks, but it is not known how many of them are on the move. There are also BMP-1s, BTR-60s, and BMD-1s. A characteristic feature of the Cuban army is wheeled tanks (turrets from the T-54 or D-30 guns mounted on the base of the BTR-60).

The total number of regular troops is about 45,000 to 50,000, with ground forces of about 35,000. But the Cuban government is banking on the concept of a "people's war," believing it can mobilize up to a million men.

Almost all of Cuba's armaments are remnants of Soviet supplies. Some of the armaments have been modernized: put on new chassis.

Cuba has about 800 Soviet T-62M, T-55 and T-54 tanks, but it is not known how many of them are on the move. There are also BMP-1s, BTR-60s, and BMD-1s. A characteristic feature of the Cuban army is wheeled tanks (turrets from the T-54 or D-30 guns mounted on the base of the BTR-60).

As for artillery, the basis is made up of BM-21 "Grad" MLRSs, ZIS-3 cannons, D-30 and M-46 howitzers. Most of them have been converted into self-propelled units based on KrAZ trucks or tank chassis.

Aviation in Cuba is in the most deplorable condition. Freedom Island is believed to have about six working MiG-29s, MiG-23s (about 10-15) and MiG-21s.

And the navy is a few small patrol ships converted from trawlers and there are probably a few ultra-small subs and Soviet missile boats.

In recent years, Cuba has tried to obtain spare parts for air defense and aviation systems to circumvent sanctions, but there has been no radical upgrade of the fleet.