secret talks<\/a> with the Trump administration. <\/p>\nUnderscoring the gravity of the moment, D\u00edaz-Canel stressed that the talks were directed by him and \u201cthe historic leader of our revolution,\u201d Ra\u00fal Castro, the nonagenarian younger brother of Fidel, who died in 2016.<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz-Canel\u2019s words masked what was, for adherents of a revolution celebrated by the global left, a painful reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cCuba isn\u2019t negotiating out of conviction, but out of asphyxia,\u201d Stephanie Henaro, a Mexican analyst, wrote on X. \u201cRegimes don\u2019t sit down with their historic enemies when they are strong.\u201d <\/p>\n
In justifying the bilateral talks, the Cuban president cited the country\u2019s energy collapse, noting that some areas have gone more than 30 hours without power. <\/p>\n
Long lauded for its free educational and healthcare systems, Cuba is seeing schools and hospitals shut because of a lack of electricity. The national waiting list for non-life-threatening procedures has almost reached 100,000, including more than 11,000 children, the government says.<\/p>\n
Cuba, which imports 60% of its oil, has not received a fuel shipment in three months, D\u00edaz-Canel said.<\/p>\n
Once U.S. forces whisked Maduro to a New York prison, Trump cut off shipments of oil from Venezuela \u2014 which, under socialist rule, had long provided crude to its ideological ally. <\/p>\n
Trump strong-armed other nations, notably Mexico, to stop sending oil to the island. He also pressured countries to expel the cadres of Cuban physicians who had been a linchpin of healthcare across much of the Americas, while providing much-needed cash to Havana.<\/p>\n
And with many Latin American countries swinging to the right in recent years, Cuba no longer enjoys the support it once had.<\/p>\n
![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773665834_257_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
People inside a private convenience store in Havana watch Friday as Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel speaks on TV.<\/p>\n
(Ramon Espinosa \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The island is experiencing its worst days since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Havana\u2019s steadfast patron. The Communist Party survived that blow \u2014 and outlasted an almost-decade-long \u201cspecial period\u201d of austerity after the loss of Moscow\u2019s support. Still, the special period saw adults lose an average of 12 to 20 pounds, according to estimates. <\/p>\n
In recent weeks, furious Havana residents have signaled their displeasure with the outages in nightly crescendos of clanging pots and pans. Scattered reports of violent anti-government protests have emerged, despite the hard-line control of security services. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are at the limit: The situation is critical and precarious,\u201d Yaima Sardi\u00f1as, a manicurist and mother of three, said by phone from Havana. \u201cDuring the special period, yes, there were blackouts, but one could always find rice, maybe some meat. Now it\u2019s almost impossible.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThese days,\u201d added Sardi\u00f1as, 42, \u201cyou see unfortunate people on the streets, picking through the trash. That didn\u2019t happen in the special period.\u201d<\/p>\n
When D\u00edaz-Canel unveiled bilateral talks, the tone was distinct from his recent denunciations of Washington\u2019s \u201csuffocation policy\u201d and his vows of \u201ccreative resistance\u201d to Trump\u2019s bullying. <\/p>\n
The talks will probably focus on an economic and political overhaul. But broad reforms would mean transforming a deeply embedded, command-and-control system that, while faulty, has endured for 67 years, despite unrelenting pressure from Washington.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio \u2014 the Cuban American who is Trump\u2019s point man on Cuba \u2014 has blamed the calamitous current tableau on the island\u2019s leadership, not on the U.S. blockade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe humanitarian crisis is getting out of hand because the Cubans don\u2019t know how to run an economy,\u201d Rubio said in Florida last month. <\/p>\n
Others say such comments underplay the consequences of the oil blockade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trump regime has succeeded in crushing the economy,\u201d said Robin Lauren Derby, a UCLA historian who follows Cuba.<\/p>\n
Turning Cuba\u2019s largely state-owned system into a haven for private business \u2014 and a welcoming destination for Cuban American entrepreneurs from Florida \u2014 implies displacing powerful players in Cuba\u2019s military-industrial complex, which runs much of the economy. <\/p>\n
Rubio has spoken of gradual transition in Cuba, and even Trump \u2014 who called on Iranians to take to the streets once the United States and Israel began bombing Tehran \u2014 hasn\u2019t predicted a large-scale revolt.<\/p>\n
Speculation has centered on a Venezuela-style scenario in which current leadership is somehow sidelined in favor of a Trump-friendly replacement.<\/p>\n
But many experts see few parallels with Venezuela, which, unlike Cuba, has a recent history of free markets and opposition parties, while lacking Cuba\u2019s ubiquitous security architecture. And after generations of \u201cresistance,\u201d Cubans have a built-in disdain for the country\u2019s \u201cimperialist\u201d antagonist.<\/p>\n
\u201cCuba is not going to be a walk like Venezuela,\u201d Derby said. \u201cThe issue of sovereignty really means something to Cubans.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his comments, D\u00edaz-Canel hinted at resistance to political change. Talks would proceed, he said, with \u201crespect for the political systems of both states, and for the sovereignty and self-determination of our government.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773665834_768_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Children play last week during a school activity in a park in Havana.<\/p>\n
(Ramon Espinosa \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Cuba probably will be open to an expanded private sector role and offering U.S. firms preferential access, said Ricardo Torres, an economist at American University. Potentially more problematic will be calls for compensation payments to U.S. companies and individuals \u2014 many in south Florida \u2014 whose property was expropriated after the revolution.<\/p>\n
Another key factor is Florida\u2019s Cuban American population. A crucial base for the Republican Party, they probably will object to leaving the current governing infrastructure in place, Venezuela-style. Cuban exiles have demanded multiparty elections, freedom of speech, the release of political prisoners and other reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Trump and Rubio betray Miami, they may get into a lot of trouble,\u201d Casta\u00f1eda said. <\/p>\n
On the other hand, a greatly debilitated Cuban government has few cards to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cCuba has entered these negotiations in a very weak position,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThey will have to make concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are already some signs. Just last week, Havana announced that it was releasing 51 prisoners \u201cin the spirit of good will and close, fluid relations with the Vatican.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Vatican \u2014 which helped broker talks that led to a U.S.-Cuba thaw during the Obama administration \u2014 has been playing a similar intermediary role with Trump and Havana.<\/p>\n
On the U.S. side, some are predicting that Trump will agree to open up travel to the island, which is key to revitalizing the moribund tourist economy. The blackouts and lack of jet fuel have decimated tourism, a key source of revenue.<\/p>\n
A return of foreign visitors would be a boon for many, including the likes of Bruno D\u00edaz, 56, a father of three in Havana who makes a living as a cab driver and musician, catering to the tourist trade. He hasn\u2019t worked in weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in such a delicate situation \u2014 with people going hungry, so many shortages \u2014 that whatever news of a change gives us hope,\u201d D\u00edaz said following news of the U.S.-Cuban talks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just hope it\u2019s not only words, and that we will see real change soon. Because people can\u2019t take it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonnell and Linthicum reported from Mexico City, Ceballos from Washington. Special correspondent Cecilia S\u00e1nchez Vidal in Mexico City contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0For more than six decades, communist Cuba thwarted every destabilizing measure Washington aimed its way \u2014 assassination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[101424,7363,101427,101425,101428,405,52659,33228,48,52,51,47,50,49,2457,8390,66855,9299,101426,7051,1519],"class_list":["post-222047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-communist-cuba","tag-country","tag-cuban-american","tag-diaz-canel","tag-florida-straits","tag-government","tag-havana","tag-island","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mexico","tag-oil","tag-revolution","tag-rubio","tag-special-period","tag-talk","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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