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The Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, Ernesto Soberón Guzmán, declared this Wednesday to the New York Times that Havana is willing to negotiate “everything” with Washington without any taboo subjects, in the first interview granted by a currently serving Cuban official to that outlet in years.
"Cuba is willing to talk about everything with the United States. There are no taboo topics in our conversations, based on reciprocity and equality," said Soberón Guzmán during the hour-long discussion held in New York.
The statement stands in stark contrast to the position that Miguel Díaz-Canel held just a month ago, when he dismissed any negotiation regarding political changes with the United States and reiterated twice: "There is no negotiation. There is no negotiation."
The ambassador to the UN did not provide details on what specific changes the regime would be willing to accept in its economy or political system, which maintains a single party and lacks a free press.
Soberón Guzmán did indeed criticize harshly the rhetoric of the Trump administration, particularly the president's statements about "taking Cuba."
"Clearly, it does not contribute to an atmosphere of dialogue and trust when every couple of days there are statements like 'we are ready to take Cuba,'" noted the diplomat.
"The warlike rhetoric is not helpful. Building different pretexts for a military aggression against Cuba, which is what they are constructing, does not help," he added.
The regime decided to grant the interview, as explained by Soberón Guzmán himself, to convey to the American public that Cuba seeks peace and cooperation, despite the pressure campaign that Washington has intensified in recent months.
This pressure escalated precisely this Wednesday, when U.S. prosecutors formally charged Raúl Castro for ordering the downing of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue on February 24, 1996, which resulted in the deaths of four people, including three U.S. citizens.
In parallel, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a video in Spanish addressed to the Cuban people in which he held the military conglomerate GAESA —which controls up to 70% of the island's economy— responsible for the crisis that Cubans are experiencing.
"The real reason they have no electricity, fuel, or food is that those who control their country have looted billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people," Rubio said.
Soberón Guzmán described those words as an "insult to human intelligence" and attributed the energy crisis to the embargo and oil blockade imposed by Washington, which has resulted in power outages of up to 22 hours a day, food shortages, and gasoline prices in the black market exceeding 40 dollars per gallon.
The Trump administration offered 100 million dollars in food and medicine for the island, conditioned on the distribution being carried out by the Catholic Church or trusted organizations, not the Cuban government.
The ambassador said that Cuba plans to accept the aid, but he also described it as an "insult."
Negotiations between both countries have been ongoing for months. The director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana last week to demand fundamental economic reforms and the blocking of Russian and Chinese intelligence operations on the island.
Soberón Guzmán identified areas for potential cooperation: migration, tourism, agriculture, pharmaceutical production, and the fight against drug trafficking.
However, he rejected the notion that Washington can offer lessons in democracy to Cuba, criticizing the electoral college, the redistricting practices, and the influence of major political donors in the American system.
"Is this the democracy they want for Cuba? We're not interested," the diplomat stated.
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