Cuba Rejects It Is Taking Steps Towards Formal Negotiations With The U.S. But Acknowledges Talks: 'We've Exchanged Messages'

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio rejected reports that the country is taking steps towards formal negotiations with the U.S. but acknowledges there are conversations.

Speaking to Spanish agency EFE, the official said that "the U.S. government is perfectly aware of Cuba's stance and its willingness to engage in dialogue and has not rejected that."

He went on to claim that it "would be a mistake" to say steps are being taken towards bilateral talks because such a dialogue "has not begun."

"There has to be a willingness to ensure and design a dialogue that is serious, constructive, responsible and respectful of both states' sovereign equality," de Cossio said.

The remarks stand in contrast with those of U.S. President Donald Trump, who said his administration is engaged in high-level talks with Cuban officials.

"I think they'll probably come to us and want to make a deal. So Cuba will be free again. They'll come to us and make a deal. Cuba really has a problem. I know a lot of people from Cuba. We have a lot of people in the U.S. right now who would like to go back to Cuba. We'd like to work that out," Trump said during the weekend while speaking to press aboard the Air Force One during the weekend.

Tensions run high in the region as a report from the Financial Times last week claimed that the country has less than a month worth of oil at current levels of demand and domestic production.

Citing data company Kpler, the outlet noted that the country has oil to last 15 to 20 days unless deliveries resume. "They have a major crisis on their hands" Jorge Piñon, an oil expert at the University of Texas told the outlet.

The country has only received less than 85,000 barrels this year, according to the FT. All came from a shipment on January 9, Kpler detailed. The figure adds to an estimated 460,000 barrels held in inventories at the beginning of the year.

In this context, Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar urged Cubans in exile to stop sending money to the island to accelerate the regime's collapse.

In a social media publication, the lawmaker said "Cuba's time of freedom has arrived." "We have a President and a Secretary of State who are decided to clean our hemisphere of drug dealers and dictators," she claimed.

However, she went on to say that those in exile "also have a historical responsibility," which is "stop supplying oxygen to the dictatorship." "Because every dollar, every trip and every gesture of false normality gives more life to a criminal regime and sentences the Cuban people to another 60 years of misery, repression and slavery," Salazar claimed.

"This is the moment to stop everything: no more tourism, no more remittances, no more mechanisms that continue financing and supporting the dictatorship."

And while she acknowledged it is "devastating to think about the hunger of a mother" or a "child who needs immediate help," Cubans in exile face a choice: "short-term suffering or freeing Cuba for good."

Originally published on Latin Times

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Cuba, United States, Negotiations