Cuban president confirms talks with Trump officials amid US blockade

Cuban officials have held talks with the US government to seek solutions to the blockade imposed on the Caribbean nation, Miguel Díaz-Canel has said in a video broadcast on national television.“These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel, the Cuban president, said in the video, which aired on Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to address Cuban media in a rare appearance that comes amid a severe economic crisis and as the Communist government has come under increasing pressure from Donald Trump.Díaz-Canel said that the Cuban negotiators had participated “on the basis of equality and respect for the political systems of both states, and for the sovereignty and self-determination” of the Cuban government.The address was billed as a continuation of a 5 February event when Diaz-Canel warned that Cuba was approaching a situation that would require “extreme measures” given the economic crisis, frequent power blackouts and fuel shortages exacerbated by Trump’s imposition of an oil blockade on the Caribbean island.Last month, US officials held talks with former Cuban president Raúl Castro’s grandson, on the sidelines of Caricom, the annual meeting of Caribbean leaders, in St Kitts and Nevis.Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, 41, does not have an official role in the Cuban government, but remains close to his grandfather, who holds huge sway in the country’s power structure.More details soon …