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Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla admitted on Wednesday that there has been "no progress in the bilateral discussions" between Cuba and the United States, in an interview granted to MS NOW with journalist Antonia Hylton, conducted in Spanish and translated into English by the outlet.
The interview is the most recent in a long series of appearances by the minister on U.S. media during May 2026, all with a practically identical discourse. On May 8, he warned ABC News of a "bloodbath". In the same intervention, on the program Good Morning America he repeated that there was "no progress" and last Monday he spoke with Fox News —a channel historically aligned with the hardline approach against Cuba— reiterating the same arguments.
It is striking that Rodríguez, the foreign minister of the Cuban dictatorship, gives all these interviews in Spanish to U.S. media, in an obvious attempt to convey the regime's message directly to various audiences in the country, including conservative ones.
"There is a great inconsistency and irresponsibility on the part of the United States," Rodríguez declared to MS NOW. "Their behavior during the talks is one thing, but the constant public statements from their officials are hostile."
The chancellor again pointed directly at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he said "constantly lies" and "seems to be very poorly informed," and accused him of having "a pathological inclination to provoke a military confrontation between the United States and Cuba."
Rubio published a video in Spanish addressed to the Cuban people on May 20 in honor of Independence Day, in which he stated that the suffering of the island is not due to U.S. policy, but rather to the actions of the Cuban government itself.
Rodríguez also reiterated his warning about the consequences of a potential attack: "If Cuba were attacked, it would have to defend itself. That would lead to a massacre: the death of thousands of Cubans and also of young Americans."
Regarding the federal charges against Raúl Castro —declassified on May 20 by the Department of Justice for the shooting down of two planes from Brothers to the Rescue in 1996— the chancellor described it as "politically motivated and illegal" and asserted that its purpose is "to manipulate American public opinion and justify two barbaric and brutal acts: the military threat and the energy blockade against Cuba."
Rodríguez also denied the existence of foreign military bases on the island, with the sole exception of Guantánamo, which he described as "illegal and imposed against the will of the Cuban people."
The chancellor was in New York to participate in a session of the UN Security Council, and on Wednesday he met with Secretary-General António Guterres to ask him to intervene and "stop" what he described as a U.S. aggression against Cuba.
The discourse pattern of Rodríguez has remained unchanged in every appearance: "bloodbath," "collective punishment," "no progress" in the talks, and Rubio "constantly lies." The question that the regime does not answer is the one a reporter from ABC News posed live on May 10, which went unanswered: what would happen if Cubans could vote freely.
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