'No Conversations With US': Cuban President After Donald Trump's 'Make A Deal' Threat

Last Updated:January 12, 2026, 21:23 IST

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel responded angrily to Trump's warning on "making a deal" soon or face consequences, saying no one dictates Havana what to do.

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel (L) and US President Donald Trump. (AFP)

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Monday said there were no conversations with the United States after US President Donald Trump issued a threat to the communist-ruled country, telling it to “make a deal" with Washington or face serious consequences.

“There are no conversations with the US government except for technical contacts in the area of migration," Diaz-Canel wrote on X after Trump said the countries were in talks after the US military toppled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in an audacious raid.

“We have always been willing to engage in a serious and responsible dialogue with the various governments of the United States, including the current one, on the basis of sovereign equality, mutual respect, principles of International Law, and reciprocal benefit without interference in internal affairs and with full respect for our independence," the Cuban leader further said.

He further said relations between the US and Cuba can only advance if they are based on international law rather than hostility, threats, and economic coercion.

‘No One Tells Us What To Do’

These remarks came after Trump pressured Havana to “make a deal" soon, pledging to cut off all oil and money Venezuela had provided before the arrest of Maduro in a lightning raid on January 3. The US has imposed economy-crippling sanctions on Cuba for decades, but Trump has ramped up the pressure in recent days.

In a message on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Cuba had long relied on large amounts of Venezuelan oil, but that would no longer continue. “Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will," he said.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," Trump added in his post.

The threatening social media post drew an angry retort from Diaz-Canel, who said “no one" would tell his country what to do. “Cuba is a free, independent, and sovereign nation. No one tells us what to do. Cuba does not act as an aggressor; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the Homeland to the last drop of blood," he said.

A week ago, Trump stated that “Cuba is ready to fall," noting that the island’s economic crisis was worsening and it would be difficult for Havana to “hold out" without receiving heavily subsidized Venezuelan oil.

A Cold War-era US trade embargo has cinched Cuba’s economy beginning in 1962, and since 2000, Havana increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of a deal struck with Maduro’s predecessor, the firebrand leftist Hugo Chavez.

News world 'No Conversations With US': Cuban President After Donald Trump's 'Make A Deal' Threat

Read More