HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s government confirmed Monday that it recently met with U.S. officials on the island amid tensions over a U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean nation.
U.S. diplomats flew to the island in early April for the first time since 2016 as part of a new diplomatic effort, a senior State Department official said on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Neither U.S. nor Cuban officials specified when the meeting took place or which U.S. officials attended.
Alejandro Garcia del Toro, deputy director for U.S. affairs at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, said on Monday that the U.S. delegation includes assistant secretaries of state and the Cuban delegation includes representatives at the level of deputy foreign minister.
The exchange was “respectful and professional,” he said, adding that the U.S. delegation did not issue any threats or deadlines, as some U.S. media reported.
“Lifting the energy embargo on the country is a top priority for our delegation,” Garcia del Toro said. “This act of economic coercion is an unjust punishment for the entire Cuban people.”
He added: “This is also a form of global extortion against a sovereign state, which has every right under free trade rules to export fuel to Cuba.”
Among the conditions for lifting U.S. sanctions on Cuba, Washington is urging the Cuban government to end political repression, release political prisoners and open up its struggling economy.
In late January, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. Trump has also threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said last week that Cuba was ready to fight if that happened.
