By DÁNICA COTO and ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ, Related Press
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel mentioned Monday that his administration is presently not in talks with the U.S. authorities, a day after President Donald Trump threatened the Caribbean island within the wake of the U.S. assault on Venezuela.
Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of temporary statements on X after Trump prompt that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He didn’t say what sort of deal.
Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress, they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.”
He added: “We have always been willing to hold a serious and responsible dialogue with the various US governments, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and mutual benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence.”
His statements have been reposted by Cuban Overseas Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.
On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would now not dwell off oil and cash from Venezuela, which the U.S. attacked on Jan. 3 in a shocking operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela earlier than the U.S. attacked, together with some 5,500 barrels each day from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, in accordance with Jorge Piñón of the Vitality Institute on the College of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.
The state of affairs between the U.S. and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” mentioned Andy S. Gómez, retired dean of the Faculty of Worldwide Research and senior fellow in Cuban Research on the College of Miami.
He mentioned he sees Díaz-Canel’s newest feedback “as a way to try and buy a little bit of time for the inner circle to decide what steps it’s going to take.”
Gómez mentioned he doesn’t visualize Cuba reaching out to U.S. officers proper now.
“They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up U.S. diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gómez mentioned. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”
Michael Galant, senior analysis and outreach affiliate on the Middle for Financial and Coverage Analysis in Washington, D.C., mentioned he believes Cuba is likely to be prepared to barter.
“Cuba has been interested in finding ways to ease sanctions,” he mentioned. “It’s not that Cuba is uncooperative.”
Galant mentioned matters for dialogue may embrace migration and safety, including that he believes Trump is just not in a rush.
“Trump is hoping to deepen the economic crisis on the island, and there are few costs to Trump to try and wait that out,” he mentioned. “I don’t think it’s likely that there will be any dramatic action in the coming days because there is no rush to come to the table.”
Cuba’s president burdened on X that “there are no talks with the U.S. government, except for technical contacts in the area of migration.”
The island’s communist authorities has mentioned U.S. sanctions value the nation greater than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
