Cuba confirms talks with US for 1st time amid economic crisis

ISTANBUL

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Friday confirmed for the first time that Cuban officials have held talks with the US amid a severe economic crisis and mounting pressure from President Donald Trump.

“There are international factors that have facilitated these talks,” Diaz-Canel said in a video broadcast Friday on national television and described the purpose of the talks to “identify the bilateral problems that need a solution.”

Diaz-Canel said he and former President Raul Castro led the talks with the US but did not specify the US participants.

In a press briefing following the video, Diaz-Canel said the island’s critical situation was linked to the “energy blockade” imposed by the US.

“It is a situation for which we have been preparing in advance,” he said, although he emphasized that “no fuel has entered the country for three months.”

“The impact (of the blockade) is tremendous. It is most brutally manifested in these energy issues,” the president said. “This causes anguish among the population,” he added, noting that health care sector has been severely affected, with tens of thousands waiting for surgeries due to electricity shortages.

Trump on Friday confirmed Diaz-Canel’s statement by sharing an article about it on his social media platform Truth Social.

“As the President (Trump) stated, we are talking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal, which he believes ‘would be very easily made,’” a White House official told CNN.

Trump had previously said that US officials were holding talks with Cuban representatives, but this marks the first confirmation from Cuba.