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Havana– <\/span>Cubans flocked to tables this month to join the socialist government’s campaign to support national sovereignty and defy the US as tensions between the two countries rise.<\/p>\n Signatories over the age of 16 have supported the “My Signatures for the Homeland” movement, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel<\/a> Launched earlier this month.<\/p>\n Some scoff at the state’s initiative questioning why people were standing in line to sign hunger and poverty<\/a> There has been a surge across the island, while supporters say it is a move that serves as a warning to the US that civilians want peace but will not back down despite recent threats of invasion.<\/p>\n “Anything for the revolution,” said Rodolfo Ruiz, 64, selling sunglasses and other goods outside his home in Havana. He said he signed on last week because of President Donald Trump’s ongoing comments on Cuba, “so that he can listen and know that we are willing to defend our sovereignty.”<\/p>\n Ruiz said, “Be careful, Trump. Think, think carefully, before you invade Cuba. The people are ready.”<\/p>\n In January, trump<\/a> Signed an executive order stating that “the policies, practices, and actions of the Cuban government pose an unusual and extraordinary threat,” Cuban officials have repeatedly derided.<\/p>\n Since then, Trump has referred to the island as a “failed nation” and suggested a “friendly takeover”.<\/p>\n In mid-April he said, referring to the war in Iran, “After we’re done with this we can stop in Cuba.”<\/p>\n Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio \u2013 the son of Cuban immigrants who fled before the revolution \u2013 called for “new people in charge”<\/a> Of Cuba.<\/p>\n D\u00edaz-Canel has said he does not want a military invasion, but said Cuba has a duty to prepare to avoid it and, if necessary, defeat it.<\/p>\n Havana resident Delfina Hernandez said she will fight shoulder to shoulder with the Cuban people US energy blockade<\/a>Long-standing US sanctions were intensified and what many call an “imperialist threat”.<\/p>\n For three days last week, the community center she runs with her husband in Havana received sheets of papers and opened its doors so people could sign them. Hernandez was the first to do so.<\/p>\n “Cuba is very sacred to us,” he said. “We are well armed, and the Cuban people will fight to the end. We are going to attack them \u2013 and with everything we have.”<\/p>\n However, criticism on social media was swift, with opponents of the campaign insisting that “Motherland” had provided them with nothing. Some said the government should allow people to sign in favor of things like the ability to choose their own president.<\/p>\n The Homeland Initiative launched on April 19 and Cuba is celebrating 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory in April 1961<\/a> About 1,500 Cuban exiles supported by the CIA who failed in their attempt to overthrow the newly formed communist government of Fidel Castro.<\/p>\n Alberto Oliveira, a visual artist and Hernandez’s husband, questioned how Cuba is a threat to the US.<\/p>\n He said, “If this is a failed revolution, leave us alone.” “What do they care?” Hernandez added.<\/p>\n Oliveira acknowledged that the Cuban people’s needs were not being met, saying they had to go hungry at times, but he said the US’s “pressure cooker” tactics would not work.<\/p>\n “If I’m a failed state, why are you searching for me?” he asked.<\/p>\n The Trump administration has demanded that Cuba release political prisoners, implement major economic reforms and change the way it governs \u2014 all things Cuba has rejected, saying it is open to dialogue and cooperation in some areas as it pushes to end the U.S. energy blockade. The island’s crisis deepens<\/a>.<\/p>\n