A senior Cuban diplomat on Monday confirmed recent talks in Havana with US officials, as the communist-led island faces a deep crisis over President Donald Trump‘s pressure campaign.
“I can confirm that a meeting between delegations from Cuba and the United States was recently held here in Cuba,” Alejandro Garcia, the foreign ministry’s under-director of Cuba-US affairs, told the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
Garcia said that the negotiators included assistant secretaries from the US State Department and Cuba’s deputy foreign minister.
On Friday, the US online news outlet Axios reported that Trump administration officials has held multiple meetings in Havana on April 10 with Cuban officials, including Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of former president Raul Castro.
The US negotiators laid out several conditions for negotiations with Cuba to continue, including the release of prominent political prisoners, according to Axios, which cited a State Department official.
Garcia denied the claims on Monday.
“During the meeting, neither side set deadlines or made any threatening statements, as has been reported by the US press. The entire exchange was respectful and professional,” he said.
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He emphasised that ending a three-month-old US oil blockade of the island was “a top priority” for the Cuban government in the talks and accused Washington of “blackmail” for threatening countries that export oil to Cuba with tariffs.
The Trump administration began implementing a policy of maximum pressure on Cuba after its January 3 overthrow of Venezuela‘s socialist president Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s foremost backer.
The oil blockade has aggravated the country’s worst economic and energy crisis in decades, leading to warnings of a humanitarian disaster.
Cuba has been bracing for a possible attack following repeated warnings from Trump that Cuba is “next” on his list after the ouster of Maduro and the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The leftist leaders of Mexico, Spain and Brazil on Saturday voiced concern over the “dramatic situation” in Cuba and urged “sincere and respectful dialogue.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Monday there was no evident justification for the United States to attack Cuba.
“The ability to defend oneself does not mean the right to intervene militarily in other states when their political systems do not match what others might have in mind,” he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
