Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Paria said he sees no progress in the ongoing negotiations between the Cuban government and the United States.
“I can say that I see no progress“, the minister said in an interview with the American television channel ABC News. According to the foreign minister, the Cuban authorities are “ready to discuss many bilateral issues“, but those related to Cuba's political system or its internal affairs are “not on the table“.
The minister noted that he takes “very seriously“ US President Donald Trump's statements about the US intention to invade Cuba and stated that "we will exercise our right to legitimate defense to the end with the massive support of the population".
"It seems that the US government has chosen a dangerous path that could lead to unimaginable consequences, a humanitarian catastrophe, genocide, the death of Cubans and young Americans and a bloodbath in Cuba", said Rodriguez Paria.
He assured that "Cuba does not pose a threat to the United States, its national security, foreign policy, economy or the American way of life".
On May 2, the US president announced his intention "almost immediately" to seize control of Cuba after the end of the war with Iran. He vowed to send one of the US aircraft carriers to the island's shores.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has noted the escalation of the US military threat "to a dangerous and unprecedented level".
The new economic sanctions imposed by the US administration on May 7 are exacerbating the already difficult situation in the country, Miguel Diaz-Canel said today.
“The additional economic sanctions announced on May 7 are exacerbating the already difficult situation facing our country, while at the same time strengthening our determination to defend our homeland, the revolution and socialism“, Diaz-Canel wrote in X.
“Our people already know the cruelty behind the actions of the US government and the malice with which it is capable of attacking us“, the Cuban president noted. “We understand, as does the rest of the world, that this is a unilateral aggression against a nation and a population that simply wants to live in peace, control their own destiny, and be free from the destructive interference of US imperialism.“
On May 7, the United States imposed sanctions on the conglomerate GAESA, which the US government says controls approximately 40% of the Cuban economy, as well as on its CEO and a joint venture for nickel mining in the island nation. This was announced by US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio.
He specified that these restrictions are being imposed on the basis of an executive order that sharply tightens the unilateral sanctions regime against Cuba, signed by US President Donald Trump on May 1. The order seeks to give the US restrictive measures against Cuba an extraterritorial nature. It explicitly states that the restrictions may also affect third countries.