Cuba confirms holding 'respectful' talks with US officials in Havana, wants energy blockade lifted
Alejandro Garcia, the foreign ministry's director of Cuba-US affairs, confirms recent talks with US officials, as Caribbean country faces deep crisis over Trump's pressure campaign.
Cuba’s government has confirmed that it had recently met with US officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the US energy blockade of the Caribbean country.
Alejandro Garcia del Toro, deputy director general in charge of US affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday that the US delegation included assistant secretaries of state, and that the Cuban delegation included representatives at the level of deputy foreign minister.
The exchange was conducted "respectfully and professionally," he said, adding that the US delegation did not issue any threats or deadlines as has been reported in some US media.
"The elimination of the energy embargo against the country was a top priority for our delegation," Garcia del Toro said.
"This act of economic coercion is an unjustified punishment of the entire Cuban population."
He added: "It is also a form of global blackmail against sovereign states, which have every right to export fuel to Cuba, under the rules that govern free trade."
US-Cuba tensions
Senior US State Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, had said on Friday that American diplomats flew earlier in April to the island for the first time since 2016 in a new diplomatic push.
Neither US nor Cuban officials have said exactly when the meeting took place nor which US officials took part.
The US negotiators laid out several conditions for negotiations with Cuba to continue, including the release of prominent political prisoners, according to Axios, which cited a State Department official.
Garcia denied the claims on Monday.
The Trump administration began implementing a policy of maximum pressure on Cuba after its January 3 abduction of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro, Cuba's foremost backer.
In late January, US Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
Trump also has threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that his country is prepared to fight if that should happen.