Related videos:
The Cuban ambassador to the UN, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, stated this Thursday that "this is a highway with two directions", emphasizing that Cuba is willing to negotiate compensation for properties confiscated from American citizens and companies after the Revolution of 1959, but conditioned any agreement on reciprocal relief from the embargo.
The statements made to AP come amid the first high-level direct diplomatic talks between Washington and Havana in a decade, which began on April 10, when a delegation from the State Department sent by Marco Rubio arrived secretly in Havana —the first U.S. government plane to set foot in Cuba since 2016.
Soberón Guzmán made it clear that any compensation to citizens and companies in the U.S. must be accompanied by an acknowledgment of the Cuban counterclaims for the damages caused by the embargo, valued by Havana at billions of dollars.
"It is not only this claim, but also our claim because the embargo has an economic impact," the diplomat stated to the Associated Press.
The U.S. Department of Justice. has certified 5,913 valid claims for properties confiscated in Cuba since 1959, with an estimated value of between $9 billion and $10 billion including interest accrued at an annual rate of 6%.
In March, the Cuban Deputy Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío had already revealed that Havana would consider a global compensation scheme, paying the U.S. government to manage individual claims — a mechanism that Cuba employed in the 1960s with Canada, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, but never with Washington.
However, the regime categorically rejected the other major point on the U.S. agenda: the release of political prisoners. Soberón Guzmán dismissed any "ultimatum" on this matter and stated that internal issues regarding detainees are not on the table, comparing the Cuban legal system to the U.S. system to justify the refusal.
The U.S. had set a two-week deadline —expiring this Friday, April 24— for Cuba to release high-profile political prisoners, including artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and rapper Maykel Osorbo, imprisoned since the protests on July 11, 2021.
The Department of State responded with a stark warning: "The Cuban regime must stop playing games while direct talks are taking place. They have a narrow window to make a deal."
The backdrop of the entire negotiation is the energy crisis that is overwhelming Cuba: the country needs between 90,000 and 110,000 barrels of crude oil daily but only produces around 40,000 internally, with power cuts in some communities exceeding 40 hours.
In January, Trump signed an executive order imposing secondary tariffs on countries that export oil to Cuba, which led Mexico —through Pemex— and Venezuela to suspend their shipments, further worsening the humanitarian crisis on the island.
That energy vulnerability is the primary driver pushing the regime to the negotiating table, although Soberón Guzmán tried to convey firmness: "Our first option —what we really want— is a successful dialogue with the U.S. government," he declared, before warning that, in the event of a U.S. military aggression, Cuba "is ready to respond."
Filed under: