Military & Defense
Cuba: the “Moncada 2026” exercise with scenarios of air strikes and downed pilots – what Díaz-Canel asked of the Defence Zones
Havana put the whole country on a war footing hours after the US midterm polls closed. The two-day “Moncada 2026” exercise included limited air-strike scenarios and combat against search-and-rescue teams for downed pilots.
A few hours after the polls closed in the US midterm elections, Havana put the whole country through a war exercise. Cuba’s National Defence Council announced the strategic exercise “Moncada 2026” for Wednesday, November 4 and Thursday, November 5, across the island. The aim, according to the announcement, was to raise the readiness and cohesion of the political and military leadership, the troops, the territorial defence system and the economy so the country can face “any form of attack.” On Friday, November 6, National Defence Day followed, with citizens taking part in preparation work.
The scenarios left no doubt about who Cuban commanders have in mind. In the east of the country the exercise had a scenario of “unconventional warfare,” limited air strikes and combat against search-and-rescue teams that would look for downed pilots, and the Eastern Army commander, Brig. Gen. Eugenio Armando Rabilero Aguilera, gave instructions on structures and missions. The doctrine remains the “War of All the People,” which distributes roles among army, militias and citizens.
In Matanzas, Deputy Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), Lt. Gen. Joaquín Quintas Solá, inspected an anti-aircraft unit. A team with portable anti-aircraft missiles showed how it would repel a “possible limited air strike by the enemy.”
“Find every inch of land”
President Miguel Díaz-Canel, as head of the National Defence Council, attended on the first day the meeting of the Provincial Defence Council of Artemisa, west of Havana. Also present were FAR minister Lt. Gen. Álvaro López Miera, Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, General Staff chief Lt. Gen. Roberto Legrá Sotolongo and Western Army commander Brig. Gen. Ernest Feijoó Eiró. Mr Díaz-Canel asked that the heads of Defence Zones have the required training, that structures be able to operate autonomously and that production rise in each zone. On food he was categorical: “Here we must find every inch of land, so that people can sow something.” He also spoke of plans to protect the population, which must be known in advance in each area.
The party head in Artemisa, Gladys Martínez Verdecia, summed up the logic of the exercise: preparing for war, “because it is the best way we have to win it.” In the province 68 Defence Zones and 11 municipal defence councils took part. In Havana the provincial council mainly examined the sufficiency of water, food and medicines, which the authorities link to the US embargo. On National Defence Day, Mr Díaz-Canel was at the La Coronela Defence Zone, in the La Lisa municipality of the capital, and noted that combat readiness was tested there as part of the “War of All the People.”
The exercise comes as Washington raises the pressure. On Thursday, November 5, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on two Chinese state companies over military equipment for Cuba, and Donald Trump has said since spring that after Iran, Cuba’s turn will come. The Cuban leadership answers with military mobilisation and a message to the domestic audience that defence also runs through the fields.
