Díaz-Canel Engages with University of Havana on AI Amidst Cuba's Ongoing Crisis

On Wednesday, Miguel Díaz-Canel visited the University of Havana to engage in discussions with researchers and professors involved in Artificial Intelligence projects.

The Cuban Presidency reported on social media platform X that the meeting included professors from the faculties of Physics, Mathematics and Computing, and Social Communication, along with officials from the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Communications, and university leaders.

Several academic projects were showcased, addressing topics deemed strategic by the regime. These included the management of national data, the transformative impact of AI on the education sector "from primary to university levels," and the necessity of fostering societal awareness of these subjects.

The official narrative appears starkly disconnected from reality, as these "AI discussions" take place amidst an energy crisis that has brought the nation to a standstill. The proposed outcomes are expected to be implemented in universities plagued by technological obsolescence and in dilapidated schools lacking even basic supplies like pencils and notebooks for students.

The Cuban Presidency acknowledged a single point of self-criticism: the academia-industry relationship in AI development, which "is not always successful," highlighting the structural challenges Cuba faces in converting "research" into practical applications.

Furthermore, they claim that Cuban universities are already collaborating with sectors such as health, education, energy, industry, and transportation "to streamline and optimize processes." However, the same statement admitted that the country is "still far from what is needed."

This visit is part of a series of initiatives Díaz-Canel has promoted around AI in recent months. In April, the leader met with scientists to review AI projects applied to health, including the CARDENT project, aimed at predicting cardiovascular diseases.

In November 2025, during the Havana International Fair, the Cuban Artificial Intelligence Consortium was established with 22 founding members, including the University of Havana, the University of Information Sciences, ETECSA, and BioCubaFarma.

In April 2025, Díaz-Canel signed an agreement with Russia to create a joint AI laboratory during the XXII Cuban-Russian Intergovernmental Commission, bringing Moscow in as a technological partner in a field the regime declares as a priority.

The Mathematics and Computing Faculty of the University of Havana also developed CecilIA, a Cuban Spanish language model trained with 2.7 gigabytes of national data, including media, laws, literary works, and political speeches.

The stark contrast between the regime's technological ambitions and the country's reality is striking.

Cuba experiences power outages lasting more than twenty hours a day and maintains limited connectivity, conditions that hinder any real strategy for digital transformation.

Díaz-Canel's visit to the University of Havana serves only to show him smiling, dreaming of a better future in a country on the brink of collapse and facing the prospect of military confrontation with the United States.

At the end of April, the U.S. government announced the establishment of SOUTHCOM's Autonomous Warfare Command (SAWC), a new military structure dedicated to deploying unmanned, semi-autonomous, and autonomous systems throughout the region.

The term "autonomous warfare" refers to the use of military systems capable of operating with a high degree of human independence, relying on AI, advanced sensors, and automation.