Cuba's top diplomat said on Monday that there are no talks underway with the United States, nor were there any plans for future negotiations, amid a "genocidal" blockade that Cuba says has cost the island nation over $8 billion in economic damages in the last year.
"There are no negotiations or agendas, although a willingness to stay in contact remains despite the lack of progress," Cuba's foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, told reporters at a press conference in Havana.
Rodriguez said that damages caused by the decades-old US trade embargo against Cuba had jumped 7 percent in 2025 versus the previous year, to $8.1 billion.
Cuba's foreign minister said the financial hit to Cuba's economy would balloon in the first months of 2026, after the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on the island that has all but decimated output and led to nationwide blackouts that now span days.
“The blockade doesn't punish the government; it punishes every person (on the island) in every way," Cuba's top diplomat said. "It means long months spent living with only 2 or 3 hours of electricity a day or less, food spoiling, heat that makes it impossible to sleep, children doing their homework in near darkness.”
The UN calls the blockade a 'violation of international law'
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rodriguez's remarks.
The US, which regards the Cuban government as presenting national security concerns, has previously said the blockade and stepped-up sanctions are necessary to force a change to the communist-run government, which the Trump administration accuses of limiting Cuban's economic and human rights.
The United Nations has called the Trump sanctions and energy siege a violation of international law. In August, a team of UN experts warned of a growing risk of disease outbreaks on the island as the US tightened sanctions.
The U.S. also recently warned in a health alert of a spike in intestinal illnesses and diarrhea caused by failing water and electricity supply on the island.