Cuba says willing to talk to U.S., ‘without pressure’

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel addresses party delegates after being elected First Secretary of the Communist Party during the 8th Cuban Communist Party's closing session at Convention Palace in Havana, Cuba, Monday, April. 19, 2021. (Ariel Ley Royero/ACN via AP)

Cuba is prepared to hold dialogue with the United States but not under pressure, President Miguel Diaz-Canel insisted Thursday after months of threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has vowed to cut off Cuba’s access to oil and stated the communist island was “ready to fall” as he warned it to “make a deal” with Washington “BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

The Republican did not say what kind of a deal he was after, but has repeatedly stated the two countries were in negotiations, which Havana has denied.

“Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue with the United States, a dialogue on any topic... but without pressure or preconditions,” Diaz-Canel said on state TV and radio.

He said any talks must take place “from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence and our self-determination” and without “interference in our internal affairs.”

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants, have made no secret of their desire to bring about regime change in Havana.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday: “I think the fact that the Cuban government is on its last leg and its country is about to collapse, they should be wise in their statements directed towards the president of the United States.”

Asked about Cuba’s denial of the existence of negotiations, she said her boss was “always willing to engage in diplomacy and I believe that is something that is taking place, in fact, with the Cuban government.”

‘Ready to fall’

Cuba, in the grips of an economic crisis, had long relied on oil supplies from Venezuela, whose leader was ousted in a deadly U.S. military operation last month.

Trump subsequently claimed to have taken control of Venezuelan oil, vowed to starve Cuba of the commodity, and threatened tariffs on any other nation stepping in to help U.S.-sanctioned Havana.

The pressure tactics threaten to plunge Cuba into complete darkness as its power plants struggle to keep the lights on due to fuel shortages.

Earlier Thursday, hundreds of thousands of people in the country’s east were left without electricity for hours after an electricity grid failure.

Diaz-Canel insisted his country still had friends, which he did not name, as it confronts what he described as an “acute fuel shortage.”

“We cannot openly explain everything we are doing,” he said, but “Cuba is not alone.”

He said energy production from diesel- and oil-powered generators has been “zero” for weeks.

On Thursday, the US State Department announced it was providing US$6 million in direct aid to Cubans through the Catholic Church in that country.

It comes after $3 million of earlier assistance, also provided through the same mechanisms, with the material aid being delivered by local parish representatives.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that her country was using all available diplomatic channels to ensure a resumption of crude shipments to Cuba, but would not put itself at risk of punitive US tariffs.

Diaz-Canel said the pressure that Cuba found itself under highlighted the importance of its drive for greener energy and reducing reliance on others.

Cuban officials blame US sanctions for Cuba’s worst economic crisis in decades, marked by shortages of fuel, food and medicine.

But observers say poor economic management and a tourism collapse following the Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the island’s woes.