CUBA/US talks commendable, welcomed

Mar 14, 2026 Letters

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Dear Editor,

US President Donald Trump speaking at the first ‘Shield of the Americas’ summit in Florida on Saturday March 7, 2026 said; ‘Cuba is at the end of the line. Our focus now is on Iran.” However, According to US officials, America’s focus would soon turn back to the Caribbean region. Referring to Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State President Trump said, “He’ll take one hour off, and then he’ll finish up a deal on Cuba.”

President Ali’s remarks about Cuba, in an interview with a FOX NEWS journalist has ignited debates about interpretation at home and abroad. That debate will continue for a long time. Tempering of the interpretation will depend on how US/Cuba relations unfold in the coming days.

In the meantime, on Friday March 13,2026 the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, broadcast remarks concerning Cuba’s current relations with the government of the USA. His remarks were delivered during a meeting with members of the Political Bureau, the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and the executive committee of the council of ministers.

The Cuban president informed that; “Cuban officials have recently held talks with representatives of the Government of the United States.” It was the first time, in the midst of rife speculation about unofficial talks, that this announcement was officially made by the Cuban government

Of interest was the Cuban President’s reference that; “There are international factors that have facilitated these exchanges.”

In the circumstances, one is left to wonder whether Russia and China, and perhaps Caricom, cooperated with America to find a solution to the crisis in Cuba. In this regard, it is important to recall the Cuban foreign minister’s visit to Russia in February this year where he held talks with President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov as well as the recent telephone conversation between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Cuban counterpart.

Did Russia and China encourage Cuba to accept a diplomatic solution formulated by the three world powers within the meaning of real politik since Cuba is of critical importance to all three of them and knowing on the one hand, that neither China nor Russia has the reach as the latter did in the 1960’s to fend off a military attack by the US on Cuba while on the other hand, a US military invasion of the island is not the preferred option the only one being the diplomatic one?

Will the solution be to keep the communist party and government in power with commitments to implementing economic and social reforms that will result in lifting the embargo incrementally, easing the harsh conditions affecting the Cuban people and seeing increased foreign investments in various sectors of the Cuban economy?

In his remarks, the Cuban president went on to point out that, “The purpose of these discussions is, to: identify bilateral issues that require solutions; find solutions to the problems that have been identified; undertake concrete actions for the benefit of the peoples of both countries and to identify areas of cooperation in order to address threats and ensure the security and peace of both nations.”

Addressing the nature of the US/Cuba bilateral engagement, the Cuban President stressed; “This is a matter that unfolds as part of a very sensitive process that is conducted with seriousness and responsibility, requires enormous efforts to find solutions and create spaces for understanding that allow us to move away from confrontation.”

He concluded; “During the exchanges that have taken place, the Cuban side has expressed its willingness to carry out this process on the basis of equality and respect for the political systems of both States, as well as for the sovereignty and self-determination of our government. This has been stated taking into account a sense of reciprocity and adherence to international law.”

Recently there has been much loose talk about the need for regime change in Cuba; that Cuba is a one-party state; that Cuba needs to have a multiparty democracy; that Cuba do not have free and fair elections; that socialism has failed in Cuba; that the Cuban people are starving; that there are no medicines and that the system there needs to change.

In the course of this noisy cacophony two fundamental issues are overlooked; first, is the principle in the UN Charter that every nation has the ‘Right to Self-determination;’ That a people have the right to decide what kind of socio-economic system and the type of democracy they prefer to live under. They do so through national consultations at various levels ending with a referendum, then parliamentary approval of a draft constitution. The Cuban people went through all these steps. They themselves decided what system they are comfortably living with.

Secondly, since 1959 Cuba has been experiencing a US imposed economic and trade blockade. Every year at the UN General Assembly the overwhelming majority of member states vote against and for the removal of the blockade. The last resolution was unanimously adopted in September 2025

Cuba faces a major challenge to maintain its sovereignty and integrity in the face of political and diplomatic pressure that can emanate from ‘international factors’ and its engagement with the US.

Some reforms may be brutally hard to fulfill in a country who, while maintaining a fragile but functioning economy for many years, principally because of the US imposed blockade, was nevertheless recognised globally for its status and as a voice for decency and human rights in international affairs.

The costs of reforms can be enormous. Electing not to do so, can see the country and people paying a heavy political price for standing by long held and time tested values in times of crises.

Cuba’s willingness to accept the risk is to engage the US commendable and must be welcomed; it will define its leadership.

Under these conditions, continuing to recognize and uphold Cuba as a moral force in America’s ‘backyard’ is necessary.

Preparing for a US vs Cuba ‘good fight’ within the meaning of the impending negotiations is critical even necessary. Soul-searching is timely, but will it make any difference when consummated by great power politics?

Yours faithfully,

Clement J. Rohee

Former Minister of Foreign Affairs

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• Clement J. Rohee, CUBA-US talks, Letters, Marco Rubio

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