Miguel Díaz-Canel refused to commit to any of the conditions that Washington demands to normalize bilateral relations, according to journalist Kristen Welker after interviewing the Cuban leader for the Meet the Press program from NBC News, recorded in Havana this Thursday.
Welker pressed Díaz-Canel on three specific demands from the United States: the release of political prisoners, the holding of multiparty elections, and the establishment of a free press.
" I also pressed President Díaz-Canel on the changes that the United States says are necessary to normalize relations with Cuba, including the release of political prisoners, holding multiparty elections, and establishing a free press. He was not willing to commit to any of those demands,” the journalist stated.
The interview is the first that a Cuban leader has granted to a U.S. television network in decades.
The last time a ruler from the island appeared on Meet the Press was Fidel Castro in 1959.
Initial segments were aired this Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Meet the Press NOW and NBC Nightly News, while the extended version is scheduled for next Sunday.
When Welker asked Díaz-Canel if he would be willing to resign "to save Cuba," the leader reacted with irritation and questioned the source of the question.
"Is that a question from you or the U.S. Department of State?" he replied. "In Cuba, leaders are not chosen by the U.S. government, but by the sovereign Cuban people."
He then stated: "Resigning is not part of our vocabulary".
Díaz-Canel did leave open a hypothetical condition for leaving power: "If the Cuban people understand that I am not suitable for the position, that I have no reason to be here, then I should not occupy this position of president, I will respond to them".
The journalist clarified that she has indeed asked similar questions to President Donald Trump.
Díaz-Canel's rejection of Washington's demands is not surprising.
The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, had already made it clear on March 22 on NBC that "in Cuba, we are not talking about prisoners in our negotiations with the United States. It is an internal matter for Cuba."
The regime's stance is consistent with its historical position of classifying these demands as interference in internal affairs.
The interview takes place at a time of maximum pressure from the Trump administration on Havana.
Since January 2026, Washington has imposed more than 240 new sanctions against the regime.
Executive Order 14380, signed on January 29, declares Cuba an "extraordinary threat" to national security and imposes tariffs on countries that supply oil to it. Trump stated on March 27 Cuba is next and on March 30 predicted that "the regime will fail in a short time."
Despite this pressure, the Department of State and the White House confirmed on Wednesday that the discussions between both countries continue at the highest level, with participation from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
While the regime refuses to negotiate regarding political prisoners, the situation of the prisoners of conscience on the island remains critical. Prisoners Defenders counted 1,214 political prisoners at the end of February 2026, and Justicia 11J estimates at least 760, including 358 detained during the protests on July 11, 2021.
The Holy Week amnesty benefited 2,010 individuals for common crimes, but did not include any political prisoners, according to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Prisoners Defenders, and Cubalex. In March, Díaz-Canel announced the release of 51 prisoners following mediation by the Vatican, a number deemed "minimal" by human rights organizations compared to the more than 1,200 recognized political prisoners.
The opposition campaign "They Should Go", led by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and José Daniel Ferrer from the Patriotic Union of Cuba, demands precisely what Díaz-Canel refused to guarantee in front of the cameras of NBC: free elections and the release of all political prisoners.
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