“…if we need to die, we’ll die.”
That’s what Cuban “president” Miguel Díaz-Canel said on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. He was talking about the fact that Cubans would defend their homeland should the United States invade militarily. (More on that interview in a moment.)
“What does he mean by ‘we’?” has been the response of most of the Cuban people. They largely want Donald Trump to save them from communism, and they aren’t ready to die for anything.
Unfortunately, the regime isn’t giving them a choice.
You may or may not have seen these photos spreading across social media recently. They’re hard to look at, but this is Alexander Díaz Rodriguez, a Cuban opposition activist. The first photo is him five or six years ago. The others are him now. Díaz was part of a peaceful protest on July 11, 2021, but he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for “disrespect” and “sedition.”
Hace dos días el dictador Díaz-Canel dijo que en Cuba no tenían presos políticos.
No solo miente asquerosamente, sino que a los presos los torturan salvajemente.
Este es Alexander Díaz tras 4 años en una prisión cubana por protestar, ¿este es el orgullo de la izquierda? pic.twitter.com/pLchyHY7ty
— Emmanuel Rincón (@EmmaRincon) April 14, 2026
In 2022, while in prison, he was diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer. He was not treated for it. On top of that, he developed hepatitis B, anemia, and swelling in his limbs while in prison. He was also severely malnourished and suffered numerous physical beatings by the prison guards. His family said that throughout his time incarcerated, he would often vomit blood and would be rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition. However, he was returned to the prison with no promise of anything besides whatever acute treatment he received in the hospital.
Honestly, it’s a wonder he’s even still alive.
Díaz, who is 45 and was released earlier this month after serving his four-year sentence, had many people fighting for him. His family, including his mother; lawyers; and human rights organizations fought for medical parole due to his condition. The case was even brought before the United Nations (the same UN that just elected Cuba to oversee human rights groups). Despite meeting requirements for medical parole, he was denied due to being a “counterrevolutionary.”
The problem is that his case is not unique. Cuba currently has something like 1,200 political prisoners behind bars.
“When I saw the condition he was in, I noticed what I have seen other times in prisoners leaving Cuba: they look like survivors rescued from a concentration camp,” Javier Larrondo, president of Prisoners Defenders, told 14ymedio.
But on Meet the Press, Díaz-Canel sat face-to-face with Kristen Welker and claimed there are no political prisoners in Cuba.
Díaz-Canel did not commit to releasing political prisoners and rejected their characterization as such, saying there are people in Cuba who are not in favor of the revolution ‘and manifest themselves on a daily basis’ who are not in prison.
‘This narrative that has been created, that image that anyone who speaks against a revolution is thrown into jail, that’s a big lie, that’s a slander, and that’s part of that construct in order to vilify and to engage a character assassination of the Cuban Revolution,’ Díaz-Canel said.
I reported on the preview we saw of the NBC interview on Friday, joking that it may be the first time Marco Rubio and the Cuban regime find they have something in common, because Díaz-Canel didn’t seem to enjoy Welker’s line of questioning. But now that we’ve seen the entire thing, we know that question was a fluke and the interview was basically a softball — the U.S. mainstream media propping up a tyranny that commits atrocities like the one I laid out above.
As Jorge Bonilla over at NewsBusters wrote, “We viewed NBC’s hyped announcement of a Kristen Welker interview with Cuban dictatorship puppet Miguel Díaz Canel with dread expecting very little in the way of tough questions, a lot of uninterrupted regime propaganda, and a nonzero percentage of obsequiousness. We regret to inform you that we were not wrong. ”
It was, essentially, a platform for the regime to plead its desperate case to the American people and an attempt at painting Trump as the bad guy in this situation. To give you an idea of the tone of the interview, here’s Welker gushing at the end about what an honor it was to have him.
“WHAT AN HONOR…I HOPE WE CAN RETURN”: NBC’s Kristen Welker and Cuba’s regime puppet Miguel Díaz Canel exchange a fond farewell that did not air on Meet the Press. pic.twitter.com/WcEWvn5Kvj
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 12, 2026
I suppose sometimes, as a journalist, you have to do what you have to do to get a story. I learned that many years ago when I chased the grieving mother of a murdered boy out of a courthouse and sat with her outside for a long time, comforting her and listening to her talk about something that had nothing to do with what I wanted write about — her son’s murder.
But at the same time, I have no interest in giving a voice to a mouthpiece for a regime that tortures innocent people like Alexander Díaz Rodriguez. Most sane people don’t.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) released a list of questions Welker should have asked. I like these better.
1. Your regime announced a ‘mass pardon’ of over 2,000 prisoners — yet NOT A SINGLE political prisoner was released, despite more than 1,200 individuals still jailed for political reasons, including 11J protesters, according to Human Rights Watch, Prisoners Defenders, Justicia 11J, and Cuban Observatory for Human Rights. Why were none included, and will you publish a full list and commit to releasing EVERY political prisoner without conditions?
2. Cuba’s overseas medical missions generate billions of dollars annually while doctors report confiscated wages, seized passports, and coercion — practices widely described as forced labor and human trafficking. Will you commit to end this system, return passports, and pay doctors their FULL salaries directly — or is this simply a malign revenue stream for the regime?
3. Cuba continues to host foreign intelligence operations from evil regimes like Iran, China, and Russia, including reported signals intelligence facilities, while maintaining ties to terrorist-linked actors hostile to the United States. If you claim Cuba is not a state sponsor of terrorism, will you expel all foreign intelligence personnel, dismantle these operations, and allow full international verification?
4. Under your one-party communist system, Cubans face chronic poverty, shortages, and blackouts, while regime elites enjoy privileges denied to the people. Will you legalize opposition parties, allow independent candidates, and commit to FREE and FAIR multi-party elections with international observers?
5. While regime elites — including members of the Castro family — enjoy unrestricted internet and profit from social media, ordinary Cubans face censorship and shutdowns, especially during protests. Recently, even Fidel Castro’s grandson, Sandro Castro, publicly flaunted this privilege while everyday Cubans remain silenced. Will you guarantee full internet freedom for ALL Cubans, even under peaceful protests or demonstrations — or does this double standard prove the system serves elites, not the people?
I came away from the interview feeling that NBC is an embarrassment to this country and should be ashamed for such a display. I would have rather watched Welker interview Alexander Díaz Rodriguez. I’d like to see her look him in the eye and tell him what an “honor” it was to interview one of the men who tried to kill him and explain that there are no political prisoners in Cuba.
Recommended: The New Monroe Doctrine: You Can Stand Me Up at the Gates of Hell, but I Won’t Back Down
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