Cuba’s government has held talks with Donald Trump’s administration, the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said on Friday.
It confirms speculation that the two countries were talking after U.S. President Trump renewed his threat of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, saying the communist-run Caribbean island was in “deep trouble.”
“These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions, through dialogue, to bilateral differences that exist between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel said, according to a readout posted on social media by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
“There are international factors that have facilitated these exchanges,” Díaz-Canel said.
The country is facing a worsening economic crisis. The U.S. has imposed an oil blockade on the island since January, shortly after its ally and a key provider of oil, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was seized in an extraordinary military operation.
