The Cuban government announced last Friday that it would free 2010 prisoners to coincide with Easter celebrations. 

According to a statement by the Cuban Embassy in the United States, those released will include young people, women, adults over 60, those due for early release, foreign citizens and Cubans who reside abroad.

Although the embassy described the decision as a “humanitarian and sovereign gesture”, some speculate that the release is a response to increasing U.S. pressure on the Cuban government.  

Since his re-election, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire for regime change on the island. Though Cuba and the U.S. are currently engaged in diplomatic negotiations to de-escalate the recent significant increase in tensions between the two nations, Trump has not ruled out the prospect of an “unfriendly takeover” of Cuba. 

The Trump administration’s operation to forcibly remove Cuban ally Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela – Cuba’s former primary oil supplier – and his three-month blockade of non-private fuel imports to the island in early 2026 indicate an aggressive American posture. 

The Cuban government, however, has stated that its political system is not up for negotiation. 

The regime has expressed its willingness to accept certain economic reforms which could improve its commercial relationship with the United States and liberalize its largely centrally planned economy. 

Specifically, authorities have announced that Cuban Americans will be allowed to invest in businesses on the island and that remittances sent from abroad can be withdrawn in cash as U.S. dollars in Cuban currency exchange offices. 

Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s Chargé d’Affaires at the Cuban embassy in Washington, even revealed that Cuba was willing to allow the U.S. to participate in the island’s “economic transformation”. 

Meanwhile, Trump recently declared that he had “no problem” with a Russian oil tanker loaded with an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil docking in Cuba. 

These potential diplomatic overtures may represent the softening of the previously adversarial negotiating positions of both nations, which could indicate that a negotiated solution is on the horizon. 

Was the prisoner release a concession? 

The Cuban government has consistently rejected claims that its decisions are influenced by Washington. In March, the Cuban government released 51 prisoners after talks with the Vatican, but explicitly denied at the time that the release was in any way a result of U.S. coercion. 

Nevertheless, Havana has used the tactic of releasing prisoners to improve bilateral relations with Washington before; in 2025 the Cuban government released over 500 prisoners early because of a deal that was made between Joe Biden’s administration and the Cuban government. 

In exchange, Biden removed Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism shortly before his term ended, a decision that was quickly reversed when Donald Trump came to power. But the Cuban government still upheld its end of the deal and freed the prisoners. 

Some believe the latest prisoner release announcement comes in response to Washington easing the oil blockade on the island.

“Trump announced that he would allow the entry of a Russian oil tanker into Cuba and that he will assess case by case from now on the entrance of oil ships in Cuba. That is a concession, he is opening a crack in the oil blockade,” Jorge Alfonso, an independent Cuban journalist based in Mexico City, told Latin America Reports. The prisoner release is “probably the way that Cuba is responding to that”, continued the journalist.

However, Alfonso warned that this potential concession should not be misinterpreted as a sign that Cuba is willing to fundamentally change its internal, authoritarian political system: “They haven’t released political prisoners, they have only released people processed for other felonies … It is also important to note that this release is also a way for the Cuban government to alleviate pressure on the [strained] jail system regardless of U.S. pressure.” 

Indeed, as of March 2026, Cuba has the second highest number of prisoners per 100,000 in the world, after El Salvador. Cuba’s poor prison conditions have begun to provoke dissent, with a protest recently breaking out in the La Canaleta jail in Ciego de Ávila because of dwindling food supplies and poor sanitary conditions. 

The prisoner release may therefore be a pragmatic move rather than a sign of the regime loosening its grip; President Miguel Díaz-Canel reiterated in a recent interview on NBC (set to air on Sunday) that he has no intention of resigning. 

More negotiation or confrontation? 

Progress in negotiations does not automatically rule out the possibility that the United States might launch some kind of military operation to force political changes. Just two days before the Trump administration decided to attack Iran, the U.S. and Iran had been engaged in talks which reportedly produced a bilateral agreement on sanctions relief for Iran.

Despite Trump’s recent precedent of opting for military force over diplomacy, analysts believe this is unlikely in Cuba’s case.

“I do not expect a military intervention by the U.S. … I expect that there will continue to be talks between the two governments, and it is conceivable that Washington will reduce its pressure on the island in response to initiatives by Havana to open opportunities for U.S.-based businesses,”  Eric Hershberg, Professor of Government at American University and expert, told Latin America Reports.

The White House’s repeated threats of regime change against Cuba could be part of a strategy that the U.S. President has used before. Hershberg explained that Trump often acts aggressively towards foes and then de-escalates before claiming an ultimate diplomatic victory. 

“Cuba may turn out to be another instance of Trump-era American menacing that doesn’t achieve its purported objectives, in this instance overthrowing the Cuban political system,” concluded the academic. 

Washington’s decision to strike an alliance with current Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-President under Maduro, instead of installing opposition leader María Corina Machado could suggest that Trump has little interest in changing foreign adversaries’ internal power structure. 

Instead, the Venezuela case would suggest that Trump prefers obliging adversaries to align more closely with the U.S. diplomatically, rather than pushing for comprehensive regime change. 

However, this preference is not necessarily shared by all of the Trump base or his high-ranking cabinet members, especially with regards to Cuba. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for example, has a long history of calling for the current Cuban Government’s removal from power. Rubio told reporters as recently as mid-March that, for the Cuban domestic situation to improve, “they have to get new people in charge”. 

The historically powerful Florida-based Cuban-American lobby is also likely to oppose any negotiation that allows the Cuban Communist Party to continue its one-party rule of the island. 

Various Cuban opposition groups signed the so-called “Freedom Accord” in early March, a document which outlined the opposition’s plan for a democratic transition on the island and intention to “dismantl[e] the criminal enterprise that is the Communist Party of Cuba”. 

Cuban American voters have historically supported Trump, and will likely lobby him to push for systematic internal changes in Cuba in negotiations. 

Featured Image: Boniato Prison, near Santiago de Cuba. The facility, which remains in use today, was the site of Fidel Castro’s imprisonment after the failed attack on the Moncada barracks in 1953

Image Credit: Greg0611 via Wikimedia Commons

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The Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin has entered Cuban waters, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. 

The vessel, which is sanctioned by the European Union, United States and United Kingdom due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, appears to be en route to the Cuban port of Matanzas, according to Marine Traffic. 

The ship’s arrival comes after U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters late on Sunday night that he had “no problem” with Russia supplying the island with oil, having previously threatened to impose tariffs on any foreign oil supplier of the communist-run nation. 

If delivered, the 100,000 tonnes of crude oil aboard the vessel would represent the first non-private foreign shipment of oil to reach Cuba since January, when the Trump administration’s oil blockade of the island began. 

The U.S. has allowed private companies to import fuel to the island, though these supplies have been negligible for the island’s needs as a whole.

Tensions between Havana and Washington have defined bilateral relations since the Cuban Revolution of 1959 and the subsequent nationalization of U.S. assets in the Caribbean nation. But in recent months, the long-running dispute escalated after the White House forcibly removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power and took him into U.S. custody. 

Maduro was a staunch ally of the current Cuban regime and Venezuela was its primary oil supplier. 

While the U.S. and Cuban governments are engaged in diplomatic talks, this has not stopped high-ranking officials in Washington from repeatedly threatening the Cuban communist leadership with regime change

On Friday U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that, in order for Cuba’s problems to be solved, “you need to change the people in charge, you need to change the system that runs the country.” 

Rubio also blamed the Cuban government, rather than U.S. sanctions, for the island’s oil shortages, accusing the state of wanting foreign nations to supply them with oil for free; this had supposedly been the case with Maduro and the former Soviet Union. 

Though both nations provided the island with heavily subsidized oil shipments at below-market prices, Cuba supplied the Soviet Union with sugar and sent its medical professionals to Venezuela in exchange for oil. 

The Cuban government blames U.S. sanctions for the current crisis. 

Their cause notwithstanding, the shortages of fuel on the island have provoked a grave humanitarian crisis; United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned last month of impending “collapse” if no oil reached the island. 

Cuban hospitals have had to cancel emergency surgeries due to a lack of power and Cubans have resorted to burning wood to cook food. 

Featured Image: Current Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Cuban President Raúl Castro in 2015. 

Image Credit: The Presidential Press and Information Office via Wikimedia Commons 

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U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he believes that “Cuba sees the end” and, as such, he will have “the honor of taking Cuba”. 

The American leader was likely referring to an “end” of Cuba’s current communist system, which has historically been at odds with the U.S. 

“I mean, whether I free it, take it. Think I can do anything I want with it. You want to know the truth”, the president added. 

Trump’s comments coincided with a total collapse of the Cuban electrical grid on Monday which left millions without power. The U.S. blockade of foreign oil supplies — which has meant that no oil shipment has reached Cuba in three months — to the island has left Cubans facing chronic electricity shortages and frequent power outages. 

The Cuban national energy provider — La Unión Eléctrica de Cuba — posted on X that it had restored power to several “micro systems” in the provinces and that power was gradually being restored municipality by municipality. 

Read More: Crippling blackouts leave millions in darkness in crisis-ridden Cuba

Responding to Trump’s predictions of Cuba’s imminent collapse, the Cuban Consul General in Italy José Luis Darias Suarez told Latin America Reports that he was unaware of Trump’s latest comments, but that “in 67 years of revolution, a United States president has never been able to do what [he] wants with Cuba.” 

“On the contrary, they have implemented different measures, especially measures of economic pressure, to topple the Cuban Revolution, a revolution that remains in power because of [the] popular support … of the people who stand with the revolution, of which there are indisputably many”.

However, the current economic crisis has contributed to a growth in political opposition to the Cuban government. Protests, once a rarity in Cuba, have gradually increased in intensity and scope. 

In the central city of Morón demonstrators even ransacked a local office of the ruling Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in a sign of growing discontent towards the island’s leadership. 

Trump’s warnings to Cuba contrast the conciliatory tone struck by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel last Friday, who revealed that the Cuban and American governments were engaged in official negotiations that sought to find “a potential solution to … bilateral differences” between the two traditional adversaries.  

However, those negotiations may require Cuba to make comprehensive political changes in exchange for the United States easing its economic sanctions against the island; the New York Times and The Miami Herald report that the U.S. government sees removing Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel from power as a key element of any future negotiation. 

The New York Times revealed that, if Cuba complied, the U.S. would then likely allow Cubans to choose their next leader, as opposed to having a U.S.-backed figure installed. 

However, Trump’s most recent comments imply that a negotiated solution remains anything but guaranteed. The Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro and their killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei serve as a reminder that the U.S. is willing to use force to remove heads of state, such as Miguel Díaz-Canel, that it perceives to be hostile. 

Featured Image: Trump with military officers at MacDill Air Force Base in 2017. 

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A group of protestors attacked an office of the ruling Cuban Communist Party (PCC) in the central Cuban city of Morón on Saturday, with five of the protestors allegedly detained by the Cuban authorities.  

Demonstrations in the city began late on Friday and were initially peaceful, with calls for an end to power cuts and food shortages. However, the protests appeared to escalate throughout the night, as videos shared on social media showed the Communist Party office being ransacked – computers, documents and furniture were removed from the building and subsequently burned in the middle of the street.

Protests have started occurring with greater frequency on the authoritarian-run island as it faces a U.S-imposed oil blockade; earlier this month power outages caused frustrated Cubans to take to the streets in the major cities of Havana and Matanzas. 

The Morón demonstrations occurred shortly after Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel announced that the Cuban and American governments are engaged in diplomatic negotiations to de-escalate tensions between the two countries and end the current U.S. oil blockade of the nation, the driving factor behind the current economic crisis.

Although the increasingly frequent protests have been primarily caused by the power outages, some protestors have used the demonstrations as an opportunity to call for an end to the PCC’s one-party rule of the island.  

Chants of “patria y vida” – a famous anti-regime slogan meaning “homeland and life” – and “abajo la dictadura” (down with the dictatorship) were reportedly heard at the Morón demonstrations. 

Some videos also appear to show protestors in Morón throwing rocks at police and PCC officials, forcing them to flee. Independent Cuban journalist Guillermo Rodríguez-Sánchez reported that the police retaliated against the protestors; a Cuban police officer allegedly fired his sidearm, hitting a protester in the thigh. 

Much of this information remains unverified as the incident occurred during an internet outage in the region. 

Responding to the protest, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on X that the “Discontent provoked amongst our people by the prolonged blackouts is comprehensible … [and] the complaints and grievances are legitimate”. 

He warned, however, that “what will never be comprehensible, justified or admitted is violence”. 

A Cuban functionary, who asked to remain anonymous, told Latin America Reports that the protests were caused in part by “logical displeasure by the population because of the [economic] situation”. 

However, he also suggested that the protests were partly “orchestrated and promoted from Miami to cause violence. Those in Miami [the Cuban-American anti-communist lobby] are against dialogue and they want to force the United States to take military action”. 

The functionary insisted that his stated opinion was personal and not representative of the Cuban government. Various prominent Florida-based Cuban Americans who oppose the Cuban regime, such as Congressman Carlos Giménez, voiced their support for the Morón protests. 

Giménez’s statements are consistent with a history of large sections of the Cuban-American diaspora calling for, and supporting attempts to force, regime change on the island. 

Recently, 10 armed Cubans resident in the U.S. allegedly attempted to infiltrate Cuba on a Florida-registered speedboat with the hopes of destabilizing the communist government. 

The mission to infiltrate Cuba was allegedly associated with the People’s Self-Defense Forces, a Cuban opposition organization that promotes clandestine armed action against the Havana government and whose leader resides in Miami. 

Like the unnamed Cuban functionary, Díaz-Canel also laid the blame for the power shortages, and the consequent protests, at the hands of the “energy blockade of the United States, which has been cruelly intensified in the last few months”. 

The American blockade of foreign oil imports to the communist-run island countrywide has indeed led to chronic fuel and electricity shortages. No foreign fuel supplies have entered Cuba in the last 3 months. 

According to experts, Cuba needs approximately 110,000 oil barrels of oil a day to maintain basic services. Domestically, the Latin American nation is able to produce a mere 40,000 daily barrels. 

Featured Image: A pro-regime mural in Morón, the site of the most recent protests. The mural shows late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. 

Image Credit: Carlos Adan via Wikimedia Commons

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Cuban President Díaz-Canel confirmed earlier today that the Cuban and American governments are engaged in official negotiations with the aim of halting the recent escalation of tensions between Washington and Havana.

“Cuban functionaries recently had conversations with representatives of the Government of the United States to find, by way of dialogue, the potential solution to the bilateral differences that exist between our two nations,” Díaz-Canel told journalists in a televised address.

His comments come amidst months of speculation about clandestine negotiations between Washington and Havana as the U.S. enforces a total oil blockade on Cuba in the hopes of forcing political regime change. 

The Cuban state had, before this morning, refused to acknowledge the existence of official dialogue with the U.S. government; Díaz-Canel cited the revolutionary government’s aversion to giving into “speculation” about a particularly “sensitive” diplomatic process.

Washington, however, has previously referred to talks with Havana but has made no guarantee regarding a diplomatic solution to the tensions between the two countries. U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that both “friendly” and “unfriendly” options for a Cuba settlement remain on the table. 

Although the U.S. leader has not specified what these options may entail, the “friendly” deal likely refers to some kind of economic arrangement that sees the Cuban government liberalize the economy in exchange for an end to American sanctions. The “unfriendly” deal could involve regime change by military force, a method used by the Trump administration  in Venezuela and Iran. 

Although the breadth and full agenda of the talks remains unknown, Díaz-Canel mentioned that he had agreed to the inclusion of the Cuban diaspora, which is mainly concentrated in the United States, in economic life in Cuba proper. 

Díaz-Canel’s acknowledgement of talks follows an announcement of a prisoner release by the Cuban government late on Thursday. Although the Cuban government implied that this release had been a result of dialogue with the Vatican, its proximity to today’s statements could suggest Havana is willing to make political concessions to reach a diplomatic solution with the U.S.

The United States has reportedly proposed a deal with Cuba that would allow the Cuban leadership a peaceful political exit strategy, but Díaz-Canel has given no indication that a fundamental political change on the island is imminent.

Instead, he said that the current negotiations were being conducted with the express consent and at the direction of the “General of the Army” and “historic leader of our Revolution” Raúl Castro. Díaz-Canel also added that the negotiations would base themselves upon a mutual respect for “equality”, “the political systems of both countries, sovereignty and self-determination”.

Responding to the announcement, a functionary of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, who asked to remain anonymous, told Latin America Reports: “Our willingness to converse with the United States has always been there”. 

However, reiterating the Cuban President’s statements, they added, “we must resolve our differences through respectful dialogue between equals with respect for our sovereignty”. 

But as negotiations take place, the U.S. continues its campaign of maximum pressure.

Díaz-Canel also revealed in his address today that not a single oil tanker had reached Cuba in three months as he named the U.S.-sanctioned “energy blockade” as the biggest crisis currently facing the country. 

A Russian tanker carrying 200,000 barrels of oil was recently diverted away from the island under suspected U.S. pressure. Venezuela, Cuba’s erstwhile closest regional ally and chief oil supplier, has also been blocked by Washington from providing the island with energy supplies.

As the U.S. blockade pushes Cuba’s economic and humanitarian infrastructure towards collapse, hope for some form of peaceful negotiated settlement remains. 

Featured Image: Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel

Image Credit: Russian Duma via Wikimedia Commons

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In an unexpected move, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday night that the Cuban government would release 51 prisoners in the coming days “in the spirit of goodwill”. 

According to the Cuban government the decision, described as “sovereign” in the statement, was taken as a result of its “close relationship” with the Vatican, suggesting that the Holy See had a significant part to play in the prisoner release.

The prisoner release comes amidst severe tensions between Cuba and the U.S. as Washington continues its campaign of economic pressure to try to force regime change on the island. 

Although the Cuban government denies that its decisions are influenced by U.S. economic pressure, the release could be a sign of its willingness to make concessions in order to de-escalate tensions with Washington, which often criticizes its arbitrary detention of political prisoners.  

The Cuban government did not specify who it would release, but said that the prisoners selected “have all served a significant part of their sentence and have maintained good conduct in prison”. 

This is not the first time that Havana has released prisoners to soften relations with Washington. In early 2025 the Cuban government granted over 500 prisoners early release in accordance with the terms of a deal between the Miguel Díaz-Canel and Joe Biden administrations.

In return, Biden removed Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism just days before his term ended. Cuba was, however, redesignated a state sponsor of terrorism immediately after Donald Trump came to power; the prisoners were released regardless. 

The 2025 deal was also brokered by the Vatican, highlighting the traditional importance of the papal state as a mediator between the two nations. 

The Vatican appears to have adopted this role of interlocutor again, as Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin stated earlier this week that the “necessary steps” had been taken to ensure a “negotiated solution” between the two adversaries. 

In the context of current tensions, Pope Leo XIV called for Cuba and the U.S. to engage in “sincere dialogue” to “avoid violence” in early February and recently held talks with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. 

The top U.S. diplomat in Cuba – Chief of Mission Mike Hammer – also met with a representative of the Holy See to discuss the “deteriorating situation in Cuba”. 

Read more: Cuba, U.S. reportedly “talking” as Pope calls for de-escalation of tensions

“Historically, [the Vatican’s role] has been important because in Cuba the Catholic Church has remained a presence more than in most other communist countries, certainly more than in [Soviet] Russia,” Professor Massimo Faggioli, a professor of ecclesiology at Trinity College Dublin and a Vatican specialist, told Latin America Reports 

Although that “history of coexistence” has been “difficult” – religious celebrations were once banned on the island and the Cuban Communist Party seized Church property after coming to power – the Church’s continued existence in Cuba has meant that “all popes since John Paul II have had some kind of relationship with the Cuban leadership, to the dismay of the Americans”.

That relationship has become more important as the Vatican now, according to the Professor, perceives “a clearer threat” on the part of the United States “to do something about Cuba” and its communist regime in the wake of the Venezuelan and Iranian operations.

The Vatican’s “traditional approach to international relations … based on multilateralism, on the role of international organizations, on the rule of law” means that the Holy See finds itself “at odds” with the current American policy of potentially destabilizing unilateral regime change operations. This, in turn, has led it to push “to prevent the escalation” of the U.S.-Cuba tensions into a military conflict, Faggioli argued.  

The Vatican has historically been successful in mediating difficult negotiations between adversaries, the ecclesiologist pointed out, because their representatives engage in diplomacy as a “service to the Church” borne from faith and therefore tend to be less career-oriented.

Furthermore, the Vatican’s experience in mediating conflicts worldwide means “there is a treasure of knowledge and of relationships and of connections”  within the papal diplomatic corps, which operates “in every part of the world”.  

Although Faggioli suggested that some senior figures in the American administration – such as the Catholic Marco Rubio and Trump himself – may not be the most amenable to the Vatican’s overtures, he also recognized that “there are some voices in the U.S. Department of State that are more cautious than … [those] in the cabinet of Donald Trump” and might represent “different views when they talk with the Vatican”. 

With today’s official confirmation of ongoing Cuba-U.S. negotiations by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, perhaps the Vatican will be called upon to act as intermediary between the two adversaries once again. 

Featured Image: The current Pope Leo XIV. He is the first American-born Pope and has called for de-escalation between his country of birth and Cuba. 

Image Credit: Edgar Beltrán via Wikimedia Commons

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The United Nations (UN) has entered into formal negotiations with the United States regarding the entry of fuel supplies to Cuba amid acute fuel shortages caused by a U.S. oil blockade, said Francisco Pichón, the permanent representative of the UN to Cuba.

Members of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Trump administration are discussing ways “to ensure that fuel can be accessed for humanitarian purposes,” according to Pichón.

The UN representative clarified that those fuel supplies would be used for “emergency response operations” and to protect the access of “vulnerable people and groups” to “vital services”. 

The recent U.S. oil blockade on oil has led to a growing nationwide humanitarian crisis: many regions are facing prolonged power outages, hospitals are facing increasing pressure as life-saving treatments are disrupted, and the economy is crumbling as schools and workplaces reduce their operational hours. 

The U.S. campaign of economic pressure is widely seen as an attempt to force the Cuban regime into collapse or make its leader grant political concessions to Washington. Senior Republicans in the U.S. have repeatedly suggested that some form of regime change in Cuba is imminent.

During the Shield of the Americas Summit on Saturday, President Trump promised that “great change” was coming to Cuba and its “bad regime that has been bad for a long time.” 

On Monday, President Trump reiterated his warning, claiming that Cuba may soon face either a “friendly” or “unfriendly” takeover by the U.S. 

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham also told Fox News on Sunday that “the liberation of Cuba is upon us. It’s just a matter of time now.” 

Although there are reports that an economic deal between Washington and Havana could soon be announced, the “unfriendly” option remains a possibility. The U.S. administration’s strikes on Iran or its operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could serve as templates for a potential military operation against Cuba.

Read more: U.S. Reportedly Closing In On Economic Deal With Cuba

Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist and research fellow at the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies at American University, spoke to Latin America Reports about the current Cuban crisis and the various iterations of regime change that could occur as a result.

“Whatever emotional and material reserves [Cuban] people once had are now largely exhausted … if the United States strictly enforces the oil embargo, a negotiated solution will likely become inevitable, given the limited support Cuba is receiving from its allies,” the economist said. 

Venezuela, Cuba’s erstwhile closest regional ally, has stopped supplying the island with oil since the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces and in early March an oil tanker bound for the island from Russia – a traditional ally – reversed route under suspected U.S. pressure. 

Commenting on recent revelations about UN-U.S. negotiations, Torres pointed out that the discussions between the White House and the UN will likely be limited to “aid delivery” as opposed to opening an avenue for de-escalation. 

The U.S., he argued, “would [probably] favor a full [political] transition in Cuba” and an end to Communist party rule. Failing that, “they may be prepared to support a phased agreement that starts with building a more stable economic base and proceed from there,” the research fellow concluded. 

Featured Image: A horse-drawn cart in Cuba during the Cuban ‘Período Especial’, the term used to describe the Cuban economic struggles in the 1990s after the Soviet collapse. The scale of current fuel shortages in Cuba has not been seen since the ‘Período Especial’ 

Image Credit: Nick via Wikimedia Commons 

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