Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel said he is willing to hold talks with the United States, but insisted any negotiations must occur “without pressure or preconditions.”
Díaz-Canel made the remarks on state TV and radio, saying Cuba will engage in dialogue “on any topic” provided it takes place “from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our self-determination” and without “interference in our internal affairs.”
The statement comes after weeks of threats from the Trump administration. US President Donald Trump had warned that “Cuba will be failing pretty soon” following claims that US forces had captured Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and seized control of the country’s oil reserves—actions that would cut Cuba off from its main fuel supplier. Trump has also urged Mexico not to include oil in humanitarian shipments to Cuba and threatened tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island.
Cuba is already grappling with a deteriorated electricity grid after decades under a US trade embargo and chronic mismanagement. The recent loss of Venezuelan oil has led to longer, more frequent blackouts. On Wednesday, the southern provinces of Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba experienced a widespread outage that lasted until Thursday morning. “Since it goes out all the time, I didn’t even realize it was a widespread outage,” a Santiago resident told AFP.
In response, Díaz-Canel pledged plans to build more solar farms, expand oil storage, and explore the island’s own crude oil and gas potential, though he gave no specifics. He acknowledged these steps would require international cooperation and said the government would implement a contingency plan to further ration energy.
He warned the US “blockade” affects public transportation, hospitals, schools, the economy and tourism, and posed rhetorical questions about basic needs: “How do we till our soil? How do we move around? How do we keep our kids in classes without fuel?” He added that measures to cope with the crisis would “while not permanent, require effort,” asking whether Cuba should “give up” when there is “so much to defend.”
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez