Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said he is ready to hold talks with the United States but insisted any negotiations must occur without pressure or preconditions. Speaking on state television and radio, he said Cuba would engage in dialogue “on any topic,” provided it happens “from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our self-determination,” and without interference in internal affairs.
His comments come after several weeks of public threats from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump warned that “Cuba will be failing pretty soon” amid reports that U.S. forces had captured Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and taken control of the country’s oil reserves—moves that, if true, would sever Cuba’s main fuel supply. Trump has also publicly urged Mexico to exclude oil from humanitarian shipments to Cuba and threatened tariffs on countries that sell fuel to the island.
Cuba is already struggling with a weakened electricity system after decades of U.S. trade restrictions and chronic mismanagement. The recent loss of Venezuelan oil has worsened the situation, producing longer and more frequent blackouts. On Wednesday, the southern provinces of Granma, Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba experienced a widespread outage that lasted into 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 to the energy shortfalls, Díaz-Canel outlined plans to build additional solar farms, increase oil storage capacity, and explore Cuba’s own crude oil and gas potential, though he provided no detailed timeline. He said these steps would require international cooperation and announced a government contingency plan that includes deeper energy rationing.
Díaz-Canel also blamed the U.S. “blockade” for harming public transportation, hospitals, schools, the economy and tourism, and questioned how basic needs can be met without fuel: how to till the soil, move people, or keep children in school. He said measures to cope with the crisis would not be permanent but would demand effort, asking whether Cuba should give up when there is so much to defend.