Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel made a rare, televised address on Friday morning and confirmed that the government was in talks with the Trump administration as the energy and humanitarian crisis on the island nation worsens, lawmakers in South Florida are pushing back against the island’s claims, saying that the regime can no longer be in power.
Cuban American congressional leaders say the entire regime must be dismantled for any meaningful change to occur
U.S. Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez say they are not convinced by Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel’s actions, which they call a stalling tactic.
“The facts are unless there’s political change in Cuba you are not going to have the investments that are necessary in order to approve conditions in Cuba,” Gimenez said. “Nobody is going to be investing in Cuba under this regime. You need political change.”
Both lawmakers emphasized the suffering of Cubans on the island, citing starvation, medicine shortages, and electrical blackouts, and claim the government is obstructing humanitarian aid to its own citizens.
Salazar described the announcement as “all smoking mirrors,” intended to “buy time” and “preserve the power.”
“We know exactly what everyone wants on the island. Freedom, democracy, free market economy. To be able to travel and eat three times a day. That is what we are going for,” Salazar said, adding that “the Castros are delaying the inevitable.”
Gimenez echoed the sentiment, dismissing the release of 51 political prisoners out of an estimated 1,400 as “not change.”
Both representatives praised the pressure applied by the Trump administration on the Caribbean country, expressing confidence that the current regime’s days are numbered.
A Miami-Dade Commissioner says any deal that keeps the communist regime is “unacceptable”Â
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis released a statement after the announcement was made, saying that “any deal that keeps Cuba communist is unacceptable.”
In a statement, Milian Orbis said that this move “highlights the desperation of a regime facing a deepening economic and political crisis.”
“Any negotiation that preserves a one-party communist dictatorship while ignoring the core requirements of the LIBERTAD Act is unacceptable,” Milian Orbis said in the statement.
She said that credit is due to President Donald Trump for pressuring the Cuban regime to make them feel enough economic and political pain to come to the table.
“Strength, not concessions, is what forces authoritarian regimes to respond,” she said.
She went on to say that pressure must lead to real change in the island nation.
“The Cuban people deserve freedom, not another agreement that keeps a communist dictatorship in power,” she concluded.
Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel says talks with other nations is not unprecedented
While Diaz-Canel confirmed talks with the U.S., he said that any potential agreement remains in the early stages.
“Cuban officials recently held conversations with officials from the U.S. government to look for solutions to the bilateral differences that exist,” Diaz-Canel said during a press conference Friday morning.
He noted that such contacts are not unprecedented and pointed to similar discussions during the administration of former President Barack Obama.
“This is not the first time we’ve had conversations like this. During the Obama era we had similar talks, and now we are having them again,” Diaz-Canel said.
He said that Cuba and the U.S. are still far from reaching any type of formal agreement.