By Dave Sherwood
HAVANA, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Monday there are no talks with the U.S. government, in an apparent response to comments by President Donald Trump suggesting the two long-time foes were in conversations.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that the U.S. was “talking to Cuba.” He did not specify what had been discussed but said “You’ll find out pretty soon.”
Diaz-Canel denied any ongoing conversations except for technical contacts on the issue of migration.
“As history demonstrates, in order for the relations between the United States and Cuba to advance, they must be based in international law instead of hostility, threats and economic coercion,” Diaz-Canel said on X.
Tensions are rapidly escalating between the two neighboring nations, just 90 miles apart across the Straits of Florida.
Trump said on Sunday that no more Venezuelan oil or money would go to Cuba following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and suggested the Communist-run island should strike a deal with Washington.
The comments prompted Diaz-Canel on Sunday to respond that Cuba would defend its homeland “to the last drop of blood.”
U.S. officials have hardened their rhetoric against Cuba in recent weeks, though the two countries have been at odds since former leader Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
In his comments Sunday, Trump said he “wanted to take care of” Cubans who were “forced out” of Cuba or who “left under duress,” calling them “great citizens of the United States.”
Diaz-Canel lashed back on Monday, saying his country’s citizens had been enticed to migrate to the U.S. under laws that favored Cuban migrants, and now were suffering the consequences of that “failed policy.”
“They are victims of a change in policy towards migrants and the betrayal of Miami politicians,” Diaz-Canel said.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
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