Cuban President Diaz-Canel Caught in Another Lie
HAVANA TIMES – President Miguel Díaz-Canel has done it again: turning the visit of an international figure into a propaganda act and diverting attention from his disastrous performance by aiming the cannons at the US embargo and economic sanctions.
This time the “victim” was Alena Douhan, the UN Special Rapporteur on unilateral coercive measures, received with cameras and a red carpet at the Palace of the Revolution.
In the meeting, broadcast this Friday by state television, the hand-picked president hammered once again on the idea that the “genocidal” policy tightened during the first term of President Donald Trump (2017–2021) and reinforced with the Republican’s return to the White House is the cause of the Cuban people’s suffering.
It’s the traditional modus operandi to reinforce the narrative that almost all of the island’s woes are explained by the US embargo, without acknowledging that the worst of what we endure comes from that very building with heavily polished floors.
He leads Douhan—who, by the way, is a Washington critic—to believe that the blackouts, shortages, health crisis, and repression suffered by millions of Cubans are the result of external actors.
The island’s return to the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism was mentioned as the justification to tighten the economic noose—a delicate issue, because although Cuba no longer trains troops to wage war abroad as it did for decades, it does ideologically indoctrinate any foreign leader willing to listen, not to mention the terrorists living comfortably here while being sought by international authorities for past crimes.
Privileges for the elite, the comfortable lives of leaders and their families, the multimillion-dollar investments in luxury, nearly empty hotels with money that could dramatically improve the daily life of ordinary Cubans; censorship, persecution of demonstrators, bureaucratic obstacles, political controls, and the absence of basic rights—none of that was on her agenda.
However, the height of shamelessness came when Díaz-Canel assured the rapporteur that Cuba is fully willing to cooperate with the Council’s human-rights mechanisms, when it is clear that for decades strong restrictions have existed on international scrutiny in areas such as civil liberties, political pluralism, and the criminalization of protest.
It is absolute audacity to try to project an image of transparency and good will before the UN when laws and practices continue to punish those who non-violently question power.
I don’t understand how the official didn’t take the opportunity to rebut him on the spot with all the obstacles UN agencies face in this country when trying to do their work—especially regarding human rights. Instead, in a statement to national and international media, she echoed much of the Cuban leaders script portraying the country as a victim.
The visitor, whose mandate fundamentally concerns the integral defense of human rights, chose to censor the use of economic sanctions, which she considered an invalid political tool.
Douhan repeats the pattern a visitor thoroughly vetted by Cuban intelligence as pro-leftist before being allowed to set foot on the island—arriving with a tank of international political oxygen so the dictatorship can evade internal responsibility for the system’s inefficiency, authoritarianism, and structural corruption.
The freezing of foreign companies and diplomatic accounts
This same week, the Cuban regime blocked the foreign-currency accounts of all foreign companies and diplomatic missions on the island, informing them that they will not be able to withdraw or transfer abroad the currencies currently deposited in national banks—amounting to alarm bells for foreign investors.
Instead, it offers the possibility of opening new “real” accounts funded with foreign currency from abroad, which could then be used for transfers abroad and cash withdrawals. Some companies complain, however, because in practice they are encountering problems withdrawing cash and repatriating funds.
It’s not enough that these companies are forced to form joint ventures in which the State takes at least 60 percent of the profits—now they can’t even touch their revenues.
On Wednesday, the Cuban Foreign Ministry informed the diplomatic corps accredited in Havana that a similar mechanism will apply to them as well. But Douhan didn’t hear about this—or chose to play that near-Olympic art of ignoring reality as if it were a bad theatrical performance.
It’s a talent that, despite appearances, is cultivated with much patience and dedication; but when it comes to international politics, it has serious consequences.
We are used to these visitors who may not come seeking mulatas, rum, cigars, and beaches, but still disconnect from reality and act as if life were one long holiday in a Scandinavian country where no one knows what’s going on—nor cares.
The rapporteur’s final report will be presented in September 2026 before the Human Rights Council, but no major changes are expected because, as usual, her tour consisted of selected institutions only, with no contact with activists or independent civil-society organizations—and much less any visit to political prisoners.
Nevertheless, her visit to Havana has already been milked to the fullest by official propaganda, and within a week no one will remember her. We will simply continue suffering as before, even if she refuses to see it, much less denounce it.