Cuba’s President Diaz-Canel says there are no current talks with US government
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Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that relations between the nations must be based in international law instead of hostility.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HAVANA - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Jan 12 that there are no talks with the United States government in an apparent response to comments the day before by US President Donald Trump suggesting the two long-time rivals were in conversations.
Mr Trump told reporters on Jan 11 that the US was “talking to Cuba”. He did not specify what had been discussed in the alleged conversations but said “you’ll find out pretty soon”.
Mr Diaz-Canel denied any ongoing conversations except for technical contacts in the migration field.
“As history demonstrates, in order for the relations between the United States and Cuba to advance, they must be based in international law instead of hostility, threats and economic coercion,” Mr Diaz-Canel said.
US President Donald Trump said on Jan 11 that no more Venezuelan oil or money would go to Cuba
The comments prompted Mr Diaz-Canel on Jan 11 to respond that Cuba would defend its homeland “to the last drop of blood”.
US officials have hardened their rhetoric against Cuba in recent weeks, though the two countries have been at odds since former leader Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
In his comments on Jan 11, Mr Trump said he “wanted to take care of” Cubans who were “forced out” of Cuba or who “left under duress,” calling them “great citizens of the United States”.
Mr Diaz-Canel lashed back on Jan 12, saying his country’s citizens had been enticed to migrate to the US under laws that favoured Cuban migrants, and now were suffering the consequences of that “failed policy”.
“They are victims of a change in policy towards migrants and the betrayal of Miami politicians,” Mr Diaz-Canel said. REUTERS
