Havana (AFP) – The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, expressed this Thursday his country's willingness to dialogue with the United States "without pressure" or "interference", despite the fact that Washington claims that these talks have already begun.

First modification: 02/06/2026 - 13:41

"Cuba is willing to have a dialogue with the United States, to have a dialogue on any of the issues that we want to debate or discuss," but "without pressure" or "interference," Díaz-Canel said in an appearance on radio and television.

Washington responded immediately: "the Cuban government is on its last legs and (...) on the verge of collapsing," so "they should be cautious in their statements addressed to the president of the United States," said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

"The president (Donald Trump) is always willing to engage in diplomatic conversations and I think that is what is happening with the Cuban government," Leavitt added at a press conference in Washington.

The United States does not hide that with its policies it seeks a change of regime in Cuba, governed by the Communist Party (PCC, sole) and mired in a serious economic crisis, with galloping inflation, shortages of fuel, food and medicine, and recurring blackouts.

Trump has urged Havana to "reach an agreement" or face the consequences, and has insisted since mid-January that he is already holding talks with senior Cuban leaders and that they will culminate in an agreement.

The Díaz-Canel government assures that "there is no formal dialogue" between both countries, and that it only maintains an "exchange of messages" with Washington.

Fuel "shortage"

To justify his pressure policy, Trump alleges that Cuba, located just 150 km from the United States, represents an "exceptional threat" to his country, mainly due to its close relations with Russia, China and Iran, allies of Havana.

For its part, Havana accuses the US administration of wanting to "suffocate" the country's economy, under an embargo that Trump reinforced like no other tenant of the White House during his first term (2017-2021).

Amid the tensions, the State Department announced Thursday that it sent additional humanitarian aid worth $6 million through the Cuban Catholic Church, with which Washington cooperates.

A first shipment of aid, valued at three million dollars, arrived in January for the victims of Hurricane Melissa, which hit the east of the island in October. Havana describes the aid as "political manipulation."

Since the January 3 attack in Venezuela, with which Trump deposed President Nicolás Maduro, Cuba's main ally, and took control of the Venezuelan oil sector, the Republican magnate has multiplied his threats against the island.

In addition to cutting off the supply of Venezuelan oil and money from Caracas to the island, Trump signed a decree a week ago that contemplates the imposition of tariffs on those countries that sell crude oil to Havana.

He also assured that Mexico, which has supplied oil to Cuba since 2023, would stop doing so.

In his appearance this Thursday, Díaz-Canel admitted that pressure from the United States has caused "an acute fuel shortage" on the island.

"I am not an idealist, I know that we are going to live in difficult times," predicted the Cuban president.

He also explained that "Cuba is not alone" in the face of threats from the United States, and that its government will soon announce "a plan of measures, some of them "restrictive" to be able to continue functioning.

"We cannot openly explain everything we are doing," but "Cuba is not alone," he assured, in reference to governments, companies and foreign institutions that have expressed their interest in supporting Cuba in the midst of the fuel crisis.

The Cuban president also affirmed that his country will continue with the development of clean energies, which currently represent 10% of the island's energy matrix, compared to 3% in 2023.

In 2025, before Donald Trump's coup in Venezuela, Cuba could only satisfy half of its electricity demand, according to official data analyzed by AFP.

© 2026 AFP

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