A senior Cuban government official has “categorically” denied that Havana is negotiating with the United States over the fate of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
On Friday, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Carlos Fernández de Cossio told a press conference that a government overhaul was not up for discussion.
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“Cuba’s political system is not subject to negotiation, and certainly neither the president nor the status of any Cuban official is subject to negotiation with the United States,” Fernández de Cossio said.
His remarks were a categorical denial of reports that US President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking Diaz-Canel’s removal from office.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that President Trump is pushing for Diaz-Canel’s ouster but has not called for the dismantling of other branches of the Cuban government.
The plan would be similar to the one Trump carried out in Venezuela after the Jan. 3 attack that kidnapped and imprisoned Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. This maneuver left the rest of Maduro’s government intact.
But critics say such a plan in Cuba would keep long-time leader Fidel Castro’s family in power and would not lead to the dissolution of a government long accused of violent repression of its people.
Diaz-Canel will be Cuba’s first president since 1976 who is not a member of the Castro family.
Fidel Castro led the country from the time of the 1959 revolution until 2008, and was succeeded by his younger brother Raul Castro as president from 2008 to 2018.
According to constitutional reforms established in 2019, the term of office for Cuba’s president is five years, and Díaz-Canel’s second term will expire in 2028.
Diaz-Canel also serves as the island’s Communist Party leader, taking office in 2021. The term of office is also five years.
However, President Trump has repeatedly indicated that he wants to see Cuba’s communist leadership quickly collapse and has taken a series of steps to weaken the government.
On January 11, President Trump announced that Venezuela, Cuba’s close regional ally, would no longer exchange oil or funds with the island.
Then, on January 29, President Trump issued an executive order calling Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States.
To address the “national emergency,” President Trump has promised to impose high import taxes on countries sending oil to Cuba, effectively putting Cuba under a fuel blockade.
Cuba’s aging energy grid relies on fossil fuels to provide electricity. Cuba suffered a temporary island-wide power outage this week, after almost six weeks without oil imports, affecting around 10 million people.
As the situation worsened, the United Nations warned of a humanitarian “collapse” on the island.
Cuba has already been under a total embargo from the United States since the Cold War in the 1960s.
It is only about 145 kilometers (90 miles) from the United States, and critics blame government mismanagement and an embargo for destabilizing the island’s economy.
Tensions between the United States and Cuba briefly eased in 2016, but the following year, President Trump took office for his first term and reimposed restrictions on U.S. travel and trade that had been lifted.
He continued his “maximum pressure” campaign into his second term, which began in January 2025. The Cuban government has confirmed that it is in talks with the Trump administration to lift the current fuel blockade.
Meanwhile, President Trump said the Cuban government was “in its final moments” and floated the idea of leading a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.
“I believe we will have the honor of occupying Cuba. That would be good. It would be a great honor,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office.
“I think if you want to know the truth, you can do whatever you want, whether it’s liberating it or taking it away. They’re a very weakened country right now.”
But legal experts have warned that such threats amount to a violation of Cuba’s sovereignty.
Fernández de Cossio said in remarks on Friday that Cuba was ready to negotiate with the United States on trade and other areas.
He noted that Cuba is seeking compensation for damages caused by the U.S. embargo, and that there are 5,913 claims from the United States for property nationalized during the Cuban revolution.
“These are very complex issues that can be discussed, but there needs to be dialogue,” Fernández de Cossio said. “Those are legitimate issues that need to be sat down.”
