Cuba’s President says no current talks with US after Trump threatens Havana

Havana: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Monday that his administration is currently not in talks with the US government, a day after President Donald Trump threatened the Caribbean island in the wake of the US attack on Venezuela.

Díaz-Canel posted a flurry of brief statements on X after Trump suggested that Cuba “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not say what kind of deal.

Díaz-Canel wrote that for “relations between the US 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 were reposted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez on X.

On Sunday, Trump wrote that Cuba would no longer live off oil and money from Venezuela, which the US attacked on January 3 in a stunning operation that killed 32 Cuban officers and led to the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro.

Cuba was receiving an estimated 35,000 barrels a day from Venezuela before the US attacked, along with some 5,500 barrels daily from Mexico and roughly 7,500 from Russia, according to Jorge Piñón of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, who tracks the shipments.

The situation between the US and Cuba is “very sad and concerning,” said Andy S. Gómez, retired dean of the School of International Studies and senior fellow in Cuban Studies at University of Miami.

He said he sees Díaz-Canel’s latest comments “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.”

Gomez said he doesn’t visualise Cuba reaching out to US officials right now.

“They had every opportunity when President (Barack) Obama opened up US diplomatic relations, and yet they didn’t even bring Cuban coffee to the table,” Gomez said. “Of course, these are desperate times for Cuba.”agencies