The Cuban Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, made it clear this Saturday that the Cuban regime will not yield to the pressure from Washington.
Interviewed by the Mexican outlet Milenio, the diplomat stated categorically that Havana is not willing to sit down and discuss its internal political arrangement with any foreign government, including that of the United States.
"Cuba is not willing to discuss with the government of the United States, or with any government, the internal political matters of Cuba", assured the regime's deputy foreign minister to journalist Horacio Besson.
The stance directly contradicts the maximum pressure strategy that the Trump administration has applied throughout 2026, which has the stated goal of forcing 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 U.S. and, under the 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, gets 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 dismissed the notion that these communications have yielded any results.
The reason he provided was straightforward: Washington announces new sanctions with a frequency that makes any progress impossible. "The United States every 10 days, every two weeks, announces the implementation of new aggressive measures that penalize the Cuban population as a whole," he stated.
Regarding the repeated references to a possible military action against the island, the official took an alert tone. He stated that to ignore them would be "naive" and "irresponsible", given Cuba's history and what is happening on the global stage.
"The peace in Cuba and peace in the region are presumably under threat due to a possible military aggression, as stated by some American politicians," he warned, particularly pointing to "the radically anti-Cuban sectors in the United States."
This statement comes days after CBS reported that the U.S. Army Reserve was examining contingency plans to bolster Southern Command within a timeframe of 90 to 120 days.
Days later, Trump ruled out the need for a 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 "collapse."
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 over 240 new sanctions against Cuban entities in 2026, declared a national emergency concerning 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, like we assume no country, will sit down to discuss its internal political structure with the United States,” concluded the deputy minister, in what constitutes the most articulated response from the regime to the accumulated pressure from Washington in recent months.
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