HAVANA - Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday he will not resign under pressure from the United States, in his first television interview with an American broadcaster.
Diaz-Canel told NBC News that stepping down "is not part of our vocabulary." He described Cuba as a free and sovereign state with the right to self-determination, adding that the country is not subject to the designs of the United States. He said leaders in Cuba are not elected by the US government and that Washington has no right to demand his resignation.
The interview aired as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on Havana. US officials have called for political and economic changes on the communist-run island. President Donald Trump has openly floated the idea of “taking” Cuba and said last month that the island nation was “next,” following military action against Iran. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, has criticized Cuba’s economic system and said meaningful change would require a shift in leadership. However, Rubio has denied directly calling for Diaz-Canel’s resignation.
The Caribbean island has been under a US trade embargo for more than six decades. Tensions have escalated since Trump returned to office last year. The US has since imposed an oil blockade on Cuba and threatened tariffs on any country that sells oil to the island.
Cuba’s main oil supply from Venezuela was cut off in January after Trump ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. This has deepened an energy crisis on the island, leading to widespread power blackouts, fuel shortages and disruptions to water and food distribution. Diaz-Canel condemned what he called the US “hostile policy” and said the Trump administration has deprived the American people of a normal relationship with Cuba.
When NBC asked if he would leave his post to appease Washington, Diaz-Canel responded with a question of his own, asking whether the network would pose the same question to Trump. He also questioned if the query was coming from the US State Department.
Diaz-Canel said Havana wants to engage in dialogue and discuss any topic without conditions. He said Cuba is not demanding changes from the American political system and does not expect the US to demand changes from Cuba’s system. Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal told AFP on Tuesday that talks with the United States were in a very preliminary and initial phase.
Despite US pressure, Russia has remained a close ally of Cuba. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said at a news conference in Havana on Friday that Russia cannot betray Cuba or leave it on its own. Last month, a Russia-flagged tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of oil docked in Cuba, the first to reach the island in three months. The US allowed the shipment to be unloaded.