We have made it known, through direct and indirect channels, to the current administration of the United States Government that we are willing to sit at a table on equal terms, without impositions and without conditions, to talk about all the issues that have to do with the relationship between Cuba and the United States, all the issues they want to discuss, but without conditions and on equal terms,’ Diaz-Canel noted.
In an interview with the French-Spanish journalist and writer Ignacio Ramonet, published in Granma newspaper, the Cuban leader said that we have expressed this willingness, because, in addition, we make a difference, we have nothing against the US people, this is an issue with the US Government.
At the end of the day, in the blockade (by Washington against Havana) there is a, let’s say, unilateral relationship: Cuba has not affected the United States, Cuba has not taken any measure against the US Government, he said.
The US Government was the one that unilaterally imposed the blockade; therefore, it is the one that has to unilaterally remove the blockade, the head of State pointed out. He noted that ‘we are not asking for favors nor do we have to make any gesture for the blockade to be removed, it is simply a right of the Cuban people.’
He stressed that it is the Cuban people’s right to be able to develop in an environment of peace, equality, without coercive measures, without impositions, and we are willing; but the Government of the United States has never responded to that.
Regarding the position of US President Joe Biden’s administration, the Cuban leader said that it has no will to change the situation on Cuba, especially because it has prioritized its policy on the interests of a minority, which is the Florida-based Cuban-American mafia, which makes it difficult to have a relationship as we would like to have, he added.
With ideological differences, which we will always have, but a civilized relationship between neighbors, where there could be cooperation, economic, commercial, scientific, financial, cultural exchange, in all areas of life.
‘It could be a normal relationship, as the United States has with another group of countries that do not share its positions either,’ he pointed out.
Diaz-Canel considered inexplicable that President Biden holds that stance, as he was (Barack) Obama’s vice president for two terms and Obama had changed a little the atmosphere, let’s say, of relations, relations were restored.
After noting that Obama began to build a different relationship, Diaz-Canel considered that the position of the current administration only explains that in the United States, the issue is not a matter of parties, a Democrat acts the same way as a Republican.
‘There is a military industrial complex, there is another power construct behind, in the shadows, which is the one that decides the positions of the US Government, which are the imperial positions.
And there is this situation which is the subordination to a group of interests, especially for electoral matters, to the positions of the Cuban-American mafia,’ he stressed.
Asked whether he expects that the next elections will change the situation, modify the situation, the Cuban president answered, ‘I wish they would change and I wish we could have the space to discuss face to face all our positions and that there would be another type of relationship and that the blockade would be lifted.’
However, he pointed out, my conviction is that we have to overcome the blockade by ourselves, with our capacity, with our work, with our talent, with our intelligence and with our effort, and that would be the best response to this stubbornness of maintaining it for so many years against our people.
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