This is not the best year for the Cuban socialist tyranny. The jewel in its crown, Venezuela, is under strong pressure from the United States; its ally in the Middle East, Iran, faced massive protests against the Islamic regime; and, to top it all off, an efficient Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, knowledgeable about the evils of socialism, continues to gain popularity.
However, things can get worse on the political slope that Havana is currently experiencing. And the main cause would be its involvement in sending recruits to fight in the Russian forces in Ukrainian territory. As we predicted last November, the consequences are arriving.
A little over a week ago, the European Parliament approved an amendment that urges the suspension of the lucrative Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) between the European Union and Cuba, through which the Caribbean country receives millions of euros in deals for national development year after year. Losing that influx of hard currency would be fatal for Havana.
The initiative, promoted by MEPs from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, was incorporated as an amendment to the annual report on the European Union’s foreign and security policy. The PDCA includes a clause that, if human rights violations are proven, would render the pact null and void. The illogical thing is that this pact is still in effect today, with Cuba being the country with the most political prisoners in the Hemisphere.
Before going into exile in 2022, I myself communicated this inconsistency to Dutch and Swedish diplomats in Havana. For their part, they believed that withdrawing the funds would imply greater hardship for Cubans and the closure of a channel of dialogue with the regime. They were astonished that someone who lived through blackouts and shortages would so strongly recommend the end of the PDCA; to which I explained that, in truth, none of the funds given to the dictatorship reached ordinary Cubans.
Removing Havana from its special relationship with the European bloc has been a long battle for groups inside and outside the island. But this year, the alliance of dissident organizations, the Cuban Resistance Assembly (ARC), can proudly celebrate this decisive diplomatic breakthrough. Their work in the European Parliament, to unite the efforts of legislators and international activists, has been intense.
On January 21, conservative MEPs officially informed the European Union’s High Representative, Kaja Kallas, to suspend the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement (PDCA) to stop funding the Castro regime and to seriously consider its annulment. The letter to the High Commissioner “explains at length that the communist regime violates the human rights of Cubans, exports repression to destabilize Latin America, as seen in the case of Venezuela, and actively supports Russia’s war against Ukraine,” ARC communicated in a message to its followers.
Furthermore, it emphasized that Europe “cannot continue acting as if nothing is happening after ten years since the agreement was signed, and that it is time to end the damage that the regime has inflicted on the Cuban people, which is incompatible with the values ??of the European Union, the interests of the European people, and detrimental to their security.”
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly on January 21 for a proposal by MEPs Mariusz Kami?ski and Carlo Fidanza to demand the end of the PDCA subsidy, “the decisive step needed to end the financing,” according to ARC.
The connection with Russia is the stone that is sinking Castro’s diplomacy to the bottom of the ocean. In November 2025, ARC’s Secretary General, Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, stated that the crimes and violations committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine involved “the direct participation of the Cuban regime through the deployment of mercenaries recruited on the island in exchange for financial compensation.” The Castro regime “is receiving a bonus for every mercenary” fighting against Ukraine on the Russian side, he said.
During a visit to Kyiv, he personally met three of them, captured in Ukraine, identified as Frank Darío Jarrosay, Ernesto Michel Pérez Avelaes, and Yusbel González Tuercos. A report from the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War estimated that some 20,000 Cubans have been involved in the Russian army as mercenaries during the war. The average age of those who end up on the battlefield is 35.
ARC stated that with “the full participation of the Castro regime in the Russian war effort,” it is consolidating its position as part of a new “Axis of Evil,” led by Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and Havana. Ukraine, for its part, is increasingly aligning itself with the anti-Castro cause. The first and strong step was closing its embassy in Havana.
Following the European Parliament’s amendment a few days ago regarding the continuation of the PDCA (Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement), the next step would be for the European Commission to approve the end of funding for the Castro regime.
Perhaps this, combined with the loss of Venezuelan oil, would be the final blow that forces Havana to negotiate the transition that President Donald Trump has been mentioning in recent days. The socialist military would be left with nothing but the dust of the island to govern.
