He cuban government He acknowledged that the island has “limited options” to face the impact of the recent measures and pressures of the Trump Administration and announced that “in the coming days” a “reorganization process” in the country will be publicly communicated.
This was reported by the vice minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba Carlos Fernández de Cossío in an interview with EFEin which he also denied that a bilateral negotiation table with Washington was currently being designed, although he noted that both parties have exchanged messages.
“We have limited options and we also have a reorganization need in the country that implies that it is going to cost us a lot of work, it is going to require a lot of creativity,” admitted Fernández de Cossío to the Spanish agency.
The diplomat explained that Havana will launch “a reorganization process that we have planned,” and although he did not offer details about the government contingency plan, he did affirm that it will be “very difficult.”
“It is not something simple, it is something difficult for the Government to manage and it is something very difficult for the population as a whole,” he advanced.
At the same time, he added that the island country is “preparing for defense,” to “resist military aggression.” The Government’s responsibility with respect to its citizens, he argued, is to “defend them as Cubans, not as subjects of the United States.”
“The United States Government must know that military aggression against Cuba is not easy, despite the absolutely asymmetrical superiority that the United States has over Cuba (…). But they would have to ask themselves what the goal is. Bomb and destroy Cuba, and leave everything in a desolate land, or try to put soldiers in Cuba and develop a war here against the Cuban people,” he warned.
The aspiration of the Cuban Government, he continued, is for Washington to “call itself into conscience,” “understand the danger” of extreme military action on the island” and “not pay attention to any of the politicians who have made a career and who have profited through hostile conduct against Cuba.”
Messages, yes; negotiation, still
Regarding an alleged negotiation with the US, the diplomat assured that messages have been “exchanged” since the US attack on Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, on January 3, but denied that there was already a dialogue underway.
Fernández de Cossío stressed that “it would be a mistake to say that a bilateral negotiation is being designed” because that dialogue “has not started.”
“We have exchanged messages and the United States Government knows perfectly well what Cuba’s position is in terms of holding a dialogue and has not rejected it,” said the Cuban vice minister, who also denied that there could be indirect contacts through intermediaries such as Mexico or the Vatican.
His statements contrast with those made in recent days by US President Donald Trump, who has assured on several occasions that his Administration is having a negotiation with the Cuban Government, even at a high level.
“Cuba is legally right and morally right in the face of the oil siege, and is willing to sit down and dialogue with the United States. And the United States Government knows this. We have told them directly, we have said it publicly,” he stated.
Fernández de Cossío warned that “there must be a mutual will to ensure and design a dialogue that is serious, that is constructive, that is responsible and that is respectful of the sovereign equality between both States.”
Neither reforms nor prisoners in a possible dialogue
In his interview with EFEthe Cuban vice chancellor also drew the limits of the areas that could be addressed in this potential negotiation and, according to the agency’s report, he ruled out that it could address political and economic reforms on the island, as well as a release of prisoners, as has happened in Venezuela.
Regarding possible political or economic reforms, he indicated that Cuba has “the same limitation” that Washington would have to discuss with Havana about “the constitution of the United States” or about “the raids” against migrants that are being carried out “in Minneapolis and other cities.”
Regarding the prisoners, Fernández de Cossío was blunt. “We don’t see reason, we don’t see what link one issue (oil blockade) has with the other (prisoners). We have no intention of talking about that, it is not part of the bilateral dialogue between two countries,” he declared to the Spanish agency.
Asked if a figure like that of the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, could emerge in Cuba, the official flatly refused to comment on that analogy.
“If one is thinking that there is fractionation within the Cuban Government, fractionation within the political forces in Cuba, and a willingness of a small group to give up the sovereign rights of Cuba – the prerogative of our country – and to give in to the pressure, the aggressiveness of the United States, unjustified and immoral,… it is a wrong interpretation,” he asserted.
The new statements by the Cuban vice chancellor come after other official pronouncements, following Trump’s recent executive order, which considers Cuba a threat to the United States and further closes the oil siege by establishing tariffs for nations that send fuel to the island.
Such a scenario further aggravates the economic crisis in the country, which carries with it the effects of the pandemic, Washington’s previous sanctions and internal inefficiencies and problems, all of which translates into a significant lack of basic products, prolonged blackouts, high inflation, greater vulnerability and social differences, and a sustained wave of migration.
