HAVANA — Cuba’s government on Monday acknowledged that U.S. officials recently visited the island, as tensions continue over Washington’s restrictions on energy supplies.
Senior U.S. State Department officials, speaking anonymously, had said Friday that American diplomats traveled to Cuba earlier in April for the first such trip since 2016 as part of a renewed diplomatic effort. Neither Cuba nor the U.S. has given an exact date or named which U.S. officials took part.
Alejandro García del Toro, deputy director general for U.S. affairs at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry, said the U.S. team included assistant secretaries of state and that Cuba was represented at the deputy foreign minister level. He described the talks as conducted ‘respectfully and professionally’ and disputed media reports that the delegation issued threats or set deadlines.
García del Toro said that removing the energy embargo was a top priority for the Cuban delegation, calling the measure ‘an unjustified punishment of the entire Cuban population.’ He added that the embargo represented ‘a form of global blackmail against sovereign states, which have every right to export fuel to Cuba, under the rules that govern free trade.’
Washington has linked any easing of sanctions to Cuban actions on human rights and political reforms, including an end to political repression, the release of political prisoners, and broader economic liberalization.
In late January, President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba and warned of possible intervention. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said last week that the country is prepared to fight in the event of intervention.