Cuban president confirms talks

Cuban president confirms talks with US officials amid Trump pressure

President Donald Trump has repeatedly intimated that Cuba is next on his list for regime change.

By Gregory Svirnovskiy and Hannah Psalma Ramirez

The Cuban government has been in talks with U.S. officials, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday, as the country works to stave off the threat of regime change brought on by the White House.

“The purpose of these conversations is to identify what are the bilateral problems that need a solution depending on the gravity of the issue,” he said on Friday. “To make concrete actions that benefit both countries and, aside from that, to identify areas of cooperation, to address threats and to guarantee the safety and peace of both countries.”

Díaz-Canel’s comments come as he faces down increasingly dire threats from the White House. President Donald Trump, mired in war with Israel against Iran and fresh off a successful military operation in Venezuela, has repeatedly intimated that Cuba is next on his list for regime change.

“They have no money. They have no anything right now,” he said outside the White House in February. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Cuba’s economy has hit rock bottom since the Trump administration captured authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas bedroom in January and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges. The U.S. then cut off Venezuelan oil supplies critical to propping up the economy in Havana.

Trump told POLITICO last week that his administration had been in negotiations with Havana.

“They need help,” he said. “We are talking to Cuba.”

Activists in South Florida and several House Republicans are urging the president to target Cuba. “#Cubanext” trended on social media in the wake of the joint attack on Iran, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The island country was a center of discussion at a House GOP retreat at Trump National Doral, the president’s Florida golf club, last week.

The Cuban government, meanwhile, is looking for more ways to telegraph that it’s ready to play ball, most recently pledging to release 51 prisoners in consultation with the Vatican, the Cuban foreign ministry announced.

“In the exchanges we have had, the Cuban side has expressed the willingness to carry out this process through equality and respect for the political systems of both states to sovereignty and self-determination of our governments,” Díaz-Canel said.