The President of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed this Saturday that his administration has begun discussions with Cuba, a statement that marks a strategic shift amid tightening sanctions and the total crisis of the regime. From Havana, the silence has been absolute.
We are beginning to talk with Cuba. Yes, we are starting. They need help, a humanitarian foundation,” Trump said from Air Force One in remarks that were shared in a video by the Rapid Response 47 account.
The president added that he aims to address the situation of "many people who live in our country and were treated very poorly by Cuba," referring to the Cuban-American community.
"We would like them to return home, as they haven't seen their family or their country in many decades. We will work to resolve that," he stated.
The journalist Nora Gámez Torres from the Miami Herald confirmed that the White House has not denied the existence of exploratory contacts with Havana, while the regime of Miguel Díaz-Canel maintains its resistance rhetoric.
“We are a country of peace… we are willing to engage in dialogue with the government of the United States, but dialogue cannot happen under pressure,” declared the Cuban leader just hours earlier, during a full session of the Communist Party in Havana.
The apparent contrast between both positions suggests a shift in tone in the official Cuban discourse, which had been responding with verbal attacks to Washington's offensive for weeks.
Trump's executive order —which aims to cut off the oil supply to the island— has plunged the country into an unprecedented energy crisis, with massive blackouts, fuel shortages, and a near-total collapse of public services.
Sources in Washington interpret Trump’s words as a double diplomatic move: maintaining maximum pressure on the regime while opening a door for a “controlled” transition towards a system change.
“We will be kind, but the time of communism in Cuba is over,” Trump declared this Saturday from Air Force One.
The statement regarding the contacts aligns with his revelation that he personally asked Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to suspend oil shipments to the island, and that “she complied.”
Apparently, the energy blockade has ended up accelerating the regime's isolation, which is now seeking a political solution through dialogue to ensure its survival.
For now, Havana remains silent, while international anticipation grows regarding the scope of these conversations and the potential onset of a new phase, marked by a transition in the long-standing confrontation between Cuba and the United States.
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