MIAMI, United States. – White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt held this Thursday that the Cuban Government is in a terminal situation and, even so, he said that President Donald Trump would remain available for diplomatic channels.
The statement in Washington coincided with a public intervention in Havana in which Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that Cuba would be willing to talk with the United States “about any of the issues” as long as there is no “pressure” or preconditions.
“Cuba is willing to have a dialogue with the United States; to have a dialogue on any of the issues that you want to debate or discuss. Under what conditions? Without pressure, under pressure you cannot dialogue; without preconditioning, in a position of equals, of respect for our sovereignty, our independence, our self-determination,” said the Cuban leader.
The president, appointed by Raúl Castro, also stated that an exchange on these terms would allow “building a civilized relationship between neighbors, with benefits for the people of the two nations,” as long as it does not involve—according to him—“interference in our internal affairs.”
Díaz-Canel’s public offer of dialogue occurs after days of crossed messages in which Trump has assured on different occasions that his administration maintains contacts with Cuban officials. In parallel, the regime has denied the existence of a formal “dialogue table.”
Vice Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío in an interview with CNN said that the two countries have not yet established a formal dialogue.
Last Tuesday, the official also made it clear to EFE that Havana has no intention of addressing the issue of prisoners with the United States.
“We don’t see reason, we don’t see what link an issue has [bloqueo petrolero] with the other [presos]. We have no intention of talking about that, it is not part of the bilateral dialogue between two countries,” said the diplomat.
In the same interview, Fernández de Cossío denied that Havana is “jointly designing” a negotiating table with Washington and stressed that this dialogue “has not begun,” although he assured that both governments had exchanged “messages” and that Washington knew “perfectly well what Cuba’s position is” regarding its willingness to dialogue and “has not rejected it.” He also ruled out indirect contacts through intermediaries such as Mexico or the Vatican.
