As the country faces an economic crisis and intense pressure from President Donald Trump, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged for the first time on Friday that Cuban officials have held talks with the United States.
“There are international factors facilitating these talks,” Díaz-Canel said in a video broadcast on state television on Friday, explaining that the purpose of the talks was to “identify bilateral issues that need to be resolved.”
President Trump acknowledged Diaz-Canel’s announcement on Friday and reposted an article about it on his Truth Social platform.
Díaz-Canel said the talks with the United States were led by him along with former President Raúl Castro and some Communist Party members, but he did not say who participated on behalf of the United States.
A White House official told CNN: “As the president (Trump) said, we are in talks with Cuba. The Cuban leaders should come to an agreement and the president believes ‘it would be very easy to do so.'”
CNN has also reached out to the State Department for comment.
President Trump has said several times in the past that Washington is holding talks with Cuban representatives, but this is the first confirmation from Havana.
Cuba’s deputy foreign minister told CNN last month that the two countries had “exchanged some messages” but that “bilateral dialogue” had not been established at the time.
“This is a very delicate process and we are approaching it with responsibility and great care,” Diaz-Canel said Friday.
After Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was detained in a U.S. operation earlier this year, President Trump threatened to halt oil shipments from Venezuela to Cuba and impose tariffs on other countries that sold oil to Cuba. This only exacerbated the frequent power outages and fuel shortages faced by Cubans.
“Cuba is a failed state whose rulers have suffered a major setback after losing support from Venezuela and when Mexico cut off oil shipments to Venezuela,” the White House official added.
Last week, President Trump told CNN that Cuba “will soon fall apart” and that his administration “really wants to get a deal.”
At a press conference following the video, Diaz-Canel expanded on his comments, saying the critical situation the island is facing is “related to the energy blockade” by the United States.
“This is a situation that we have prepared for in advance,” he said, but emphasized that “no fuel has entered the country for three months.”
“The impact[of the lockdown]has been profound, and the cruelest manifestation of that is in these energy issues,” the president said. “This is causing suffering to our people,” he acknowledged.
Mr. Castro’s grandson, Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, nicknamed “El Cangrejo (The Crab),” appeared sitting in the audience while Mr. Díaz-Canel gave his speech.
Diaz-Canel said health care has been particularly hard hit. “Right now, tens of thousands of people in this country are waiting for surgery, but they can’t do it because of a lack of electricity,” he said.
The president also said the FBI may visit the island to help investigate last month’s speedboat intrusion in which Cuban troops shot and killed five people on board. In this case, Cuba accused Americans of trying to carry out acts of terrorism.
“Information about the incident was promptly provided to the US side, and the US side, through diplomatic and consular channels, has expressed interest in jointly participating in uncovering the facts. We are waiting for a possible visit by the FBI to participate in uncovering the facts and continue the investigation,” he said at a press conference.
Diaz-Canel described the incident as a “terrorist infiltration operation financed and organized from U.S. territory.” The president said the ship, which entered Cuban waters irregularly, had a “heavily armed” crew, which he said refuted “claims that he came looking for his family.”
“Do they think that we are fools or naive, or that with lies and trickery they could deceive the whole country, and that their aim was to attack military units and social centers?” Díaz-Canel asked.
