The Presidency of Cuba published this Tuesday, with a 12-day delay, an interview that Miguel Díaz-Canel gave to the Spanish newspaper Público on May First, during the celebration of International Workers' Day in Havana.
The video opens with a direct message from the Cuban leader to the American people. From the Antimperialist Tribune, Díaz-Canel called for a look of affection towards Cubans and stated his desire for a "good neighbor" relationship with Washington.
"I would first tell the American people to come to Cuba, to ask their government to allow them to visit Cuba, to get to know the Cuban people, to look at us with respect and affection,” he said.
He stated that Cuba has never been a hostile actor towards the United States.
"This is a people that has never hated the American people. This is a people that has never developed any aggression against the United States. Here American flags have never been burned," he added.
The ruler was explicit when referring to the type of relationship that the Cuban regime desires with Washington. "What our two peoples deserve is to live in peace and to have a loving relationship."
“I believe that the relationship we aspire to is objectively a relationship of solidarity among neighbors, a relationship in which, despite our ideological differences, which we will always have, we are able to find common areas of cooperation that allow us to build spaces of understanding that steer us away from confrontation,” he added.
The publication of the interview, 12 days late, suggests a deliberate communication maneuver by the regime to present itself as an actor willing to engage in dialogue with the international community, at a time when threats of U.S. military intervention have reached their highest point in decades.
The video comes to light after President Donald Trump published a message this Tuesday stating that Cuba "is asking for help" and announced that there will be conversations.
Díaz-Canel, in another part of the interview, referred to the possibility of holding talks with the Trump administration. He acknowledged that "there may be a dialogue".
However, the agreements in those discussions conditioned them once again to ensure that they occur "on the basis of equality, with no impositions, respecting the sovereignty and independence of the people, without any conditions and much less questioning the Cuban political system."
He also accused Washington of failing to meet previous agreements. "Cuba has fulfilled all its commitments, while the United States has failed to meet many of those commitments."
The context in which the Cuban regime decides to publish this interview is one of extreme tension.
On the very same May 1st, Trump stated at a private dinner in West Palm Beach that the United States would "take Cuba almost immediately" after concluding operations in Iran, and he threatened to deploy the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln near the island.
On May 5, he repeated the threat, describing Cuba as "completely devastated" and stating that it would be "an honor to liberate it."
The next day, Marco Rubio announced sanctions against GAESA and twelve officials from the regime, and on May 11, Axios revealed that the Pentagon updated its operational plans against Cuba, including surveillance flights of military aircraft over the island.
In that same context, a spokesperson for the State Department stated that Trump "would prefer a diplomatic solution" with Cuba, suggesting differences in tone within Washington's message at a time of maximum pressure.
This Tuesday, the United States Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, confirmed before Congress that the Cuban regime poses a threat to U.S. national security.
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