By Matt Spetalnick
WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Cuba and the United States have maintained “channels of communication” but are not engaged in any formal negotiations, Havana’s top diplomat in Washington told Reuters, as the Trump administration pursues a pressure campaign against the Communist-ruled island.
In an interview on Monday, Lianys Torres Rivera, chargé d’affaires at the embassy in Washington, said Cuba remains open to a “respectful” dialogue but is “not naive” about President Donald Trump’s threats and has increased preparations to defend itself against any US military action.
The latest US-Cuba diplomatic contacts have included meetings, phone calls and WhatsApp messages, but the two sides have made no progress toward a negotiating agenda or restarting official talks, she said.
“What we have with the US is channels of communication,” Torres Rivera said. She declined to provide details on the timing, topics and participants.
Her description of the communications appears to fall short of Trump’s assertion at the United Nations last month that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “deep into negotiations” with Havana. Trump also called Cuba a "failed state” and predicted its government would fall. The Cuban delegation walked out in protest.
A US State Department spokesperson said: "It does not come to our surprise that the Cuban regime is circulating this propaganda. In all reality, talks are ongoing and the regime has been unwilling thus far to agree to anything that would help the Cuban people, ultimately, threatening its total control.”
Trump has openly stated that his goal is to fundamentally change Cuba's government. A US-imposed oil blockade has put the country under severe strain as it contends with fuel shortages and blackouts exacerbated by failing infrastructure. UN human rights experts have condemned the oil blockade as a violation of international law.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said at the end of June that talks initiated earlier this year with the US had stalled, and in early September that no talks were under way or planned.
CUBA'S 'RED LINE'
Torres Rivera said Cuba’s “red line” remains that Havana is unwilling to negotiate any changes in its political system, seeing Trump’s demands for the removal of the Cuban leadership as a violation of sovereignty.
She rejected the Trump administration’s claims that Cuba was a threat to US national security or is interfering in US domestic affairs, and said Washington was using such accusations as a pretext to continue squeezing the island economically in what she called “collective punishment.”
A US official, responding to Reuters questions, reiterated Trump's assertion that “we will not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep.”
The Trump administration tightened the embargo against Cuba last week, further restricting travel there by Americans and access to US banking for its private sector.
Those measures, said Torres Rivera, contradict US insistence that it wants Cuba to expand private enterprise.
Facing US pressure, Cuba unveiled free-market reforms in June that, if fully implemented, would represent the biggest change to the island's socialist economy since former leader Fidel Castro took control in 1959.
But Washington says the reforms do not go far enough and has also called for "free and fair" elections.
Despite the gaps, Trump predicted late last month that the US and Cuba “will make a deal,” adding, ”I don't think we'll need the military.”
But the Cuban government remains wary.
“Cuba has always been preparing for an aggression from the US,” Torres Rivera said. “And we are increasing our capabilities now more than ever before … It is to defend ourselves.”
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; editing by Andy Sullivan, Nick Zieminski, Rod Nickel)
