The figurehead “president” of the communist state of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, participated in a “virtual reality” Gaza experience this week presented by the pro-Hezbollah Lebanese outlet al-Mayadeen in Havana.
Díaz-Canel, who serves as the face of the 65-year-old dictatorship led by 92-year-old Raúl Castro, told al-Mayadeen that “everyone in Cuba is a child of Palestine” and claimed that the way to end Israel’s self-defense operations against the genocidal jihadist organization Hamas is to “put an end to capitalism” and destroy the American “empire.”
The Castro regime is an enthusiastic supporter of jihadist causes and a close ally of fellow U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism Iran. Following the October 7 massacre of about 1,200 people by Hamas in Israel, the Cuban Communist Party raised its voice to support Hamas and the “Palestinian cause,” condemning Israel for declaring war and launching self-defense operations in the Hamas stronghold of Gaza, intended to prevent a repeat of the worst terrorist attack in its history. The Castro regime lit up Havana in the colors of the “Palestinian” flag after October 7 and Díaz-Canel traveled to Iran shortly thereafter to denounce Israel and express solidarity with the region’s jihadist operatives.
While enthusiastically embracing jihad abroad, Cuba is one of the world’s most repressive states against people of all faiths, including the small population of Cuban Muslims. The Castro regime has for years banned the construction of mosques and other Muslim community centers and censors nearly all public expressions related to religion.
Díaz-Canel’s encounter with al-Mayadeen occurred during the “Patria International Colloquium” in Havana, a convention for regime sympathizers from all backgrounds. The event featured a stand dedicated to pro-Hamas propaganda, the independent outlet Cubanet reported, which featured a virtual reality headset playing Hamas propaganda videos accusing Israel of “genocide.” Díaz-Canel wore the headset and claimed to experience something “very tough” and live the experience of people in Gaza.
“The scenes depicted in pictures emerging (from Gaza) are extremely harsh, and this reaffirms our convictions in support of the Palestinian people and their cause,” Díaz-Canel told al-Mayadeen in an interview at the convention. “The Palestinians can always count on Cuba for this support.”
“Everyone should raise their voices and find solutions to this genocide,” he demanded.
Cuba has yet to condemn the explicitly genocidal acts of October 7, which in addition to mass slaughter, including acts of torture, infanticide, gang rape, and the filming of desecration of corpses for online consumption.
“Acting with this deviance and criminality in order to determine the fate of peoples can only be compatible with the philosophy and intellect of a corrupt society and a corrupt empire like the United States empire,” Díaz-Canel railed to an al-Mayadeen reporter. “This policy will not change as long as the empire exists and as long as capitalism exists, as [the two are] completely consistent with their convictions and their expression of hegemony.”
Declaring “everyone in Cuba is a child of Palestine,” the figurehead leader claimed that the solution to the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization is not the eradication of the terrorists, but working to “change the international economic system and put an end to capitalism, so that there is no empire, so that solidarity, friendship, peace, and better everything in this world prevail, that is, in the attainable world that Fidel (Castro) sought.”
Díaz-Canel’s emphasis in the media on supporting the anti-Israel cause comes at a time of manmade crisis for the Cuban people. Thousands of Cubans have been consistently organizing protests against the half-century-old communist regime for years, executing the largest single-day protest in recent memory on July 11, 2021. Since then, protests have occurred regularly against the regime’s corruption, repression, and stranglehold on power. The latest protests erupted in the eastern Cuban cities of Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba this weekend, fueled by incessant power outages sometimes lasting up to 20 hours, ensuring that the little food the Castro regime allows people to procure with the rations rots.
The official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, Granma, claimed the protests were artificial displays organized by “terrorists” in the United States and fueled by “bot farms created in CIA labs” operating online. Granma cited no material evidence for the claim.
The Castro regime has lent much more support to Hamas and affiliated terrorists than to the Cuban people. In November, shortly after the October 7 atrocities, the regime lit up Havana’s Plaza of the Revolution with a “Palestinian” flag and hosted a “free Palestine” concert featuring local communist musicians.
More recently, in mid-March, Díaz-Canel marked the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan by meeting with the “Palestinian” ambassador to Cuba, Akram Mohammed Rashid Samhan, the first time in the history of the Fidel Castro coup regime that a “president” attends a Ramadan opening event.
“The attitude of the president [Díaz-Canel] will never be forgotten, when he invited to the Plaza of the Revolution Palestinian students to be with them, help them, and have a feeling of fatherhood in favor of the students,” the Palestinian envoy said.