Cuban President Miguel DÃaz-Canel has firmly rejected any suggestion of resigning under pressure from the United States, declaring that stepping down is not part of the revolutionary vocabulary.
In his first television interview with an American broadcaster, DÃaz-Canel told NBC News on Thursday that Cuba is a sovereign and independent nation that will not submit to U.S. demands.“We have a free sovereign state, a free state. We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States,” he said.
The 65-year-old leader added that the U.S. government, which has maintained a long-standing hostile policy towards Cuba, “has no moral to demand anything from Cuba.”
“The concept of revolutionaries giving up and stepping down, it’s not part of our vocabulary,” DÃaz-Canel emphasised.The remarks come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Havana. The U.S. has intensified pressure on Cuba, including a near-oil blockade by threatening sanctions on countries attempting to supply oil to the island.
Cuba has faced a severe energy crisis since January following the cutoff of its main oil supply from Venezuela after the ouster of Nicolás Maduro. The island nation has been under a U.S. trade embargo for over six decades.
President Donald Trump has publicly floated the idea of “taking” Cuba, similar to his comments on Greenland, Canada, and Venezuela, while his administration has labelled the Cuban leadership a threat to U.S. national security.
Last month, DÃaz-Canel vowed “unbreakable resistance” to any takeover attempt.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has been leading engagement with Havana and has pushed for significant changes in Cuba’s leadership, which he describes as incompetent. However, Rubio has denied directly calling for DÃaz-Canel’s resignation.
Despite the tensions, the Cuban leader expressed willingness for dialogue, stating that Havana is ready “to engage in dialogue and discuss any topic without any condition not demanding changes from our political system, as we are not demanding changes from the American system.”Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal described ongoing talks with the U.S. as being in a “very preliminary, very initial phase.”
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