The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, made it clear this Saturday that the Cuban regime will not yield to pressure from Washington.
Interviewed by the Mexican newspaper Milenio, the diplomat emphatically stated that Havana is not willing to sit down and discuss its internal political arrangements with any foreign government, including that of the United States.
Cuba is not willing to discuss its internal political matters with the government of the United States, nor with any other government, stated the regime's Deputy Foreign Minister to journalist Horacio Besson.
The stance directly clashes with the strategy of maximum pressure that the Trump administration has applied throughout 2026, whose stated goal is to force a fundamental change in the political system of the island.
Fernández de Cossío argued that the principle is one of reciprocity: the Cuban regime does not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of the United States and, under that same logic, rejects any foreign interference in Cuba.
"We do not intend to interfere or meddle in the internal affairs of the United States, and therefore we do not accept that a foreign government, including that of the United States, get involved in those of Cuba," he stated.
The deputy minister acknowledged that both countries maintain formal diplomatic relations and that there have been specific contacts between high-ranking officials, but he ruled out that those communications have yielded any results.
The reason he provided was straightforward: Washington announces new sanctions with a frequency that makes any progress impossible. "Every 10 days, every two weeks, the United States announces the implementation of new aggressive measures that penalize the Cuban population as a whole," he argued.
Regarding the repeated references to a possible military action against the island, the official adopted a tone of alert. He stated that to ignore them would be "naive" and "irresponsible", given Cuba's history and what is happening in the global context.
"Peace in Cuba, and in the region, is presumably under threat as a result of a potential military aggression, according to some U.S. politicians," he warned, particularly pointing out "the radically anti-Cuban sectors in the United States."
This statement comes days after CBS reported that the U.S. Reserve Army was studying contingency plans to reinforce Southern Command within a timeframe of 90 to 120 days.
Days later, Trump dismissed the need for military intervention, stating that he prefers to reach an agreement with Cuba. However, four days prior, at the UN General Assembly, he had described Cuba as an "absolutely failed state" and predicted that it would "fall".
The Secretary of State Marco Rubio has conditioned any relief from sanctions on "very substantial" changes on the island, including political and economic freedom. The Trump administration has imposed more than 240 new sanctions against Cuban entities in 2026, declared a national emergency regarding Cuba in January, and expanded secondary sanctions in May.
Fernández de Cossío did leave a door open, albeit a narrow one: the regime is willing to engage in dialogue "with seriousness" and "with responsibility" on specific bilateral issues—migration, security, trade, regional cooperation—that have an impact beyond the island.
But logically Cuba, as we assume no country will, is not going to sit down to discuss its internal political organization with the United States, concluded the deputy minister, in what represents the most articulated response from the regime to the accumulated pressure from Washington in recent months.
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