Political representatives from Florida remain silent in the first hours after news of the talks with Cuba became known.
14ymedio, Madrid, March 13, 2026 – José Daniel Ferrer was paying close attention this morning to the remarks of Miguel Díaz-Canel who, shortly before his announced press conference, confirmed through the official press that the regime is holding talks with the United States. “I am listening to the dictator Díaz-Canel. What planet does this individual live on? Does he not understand that the terrible reality Cuba is experiencing because of them demands their prompt downfall, through flight, capture, or elimination?” the opposition figure said from Miami.
The leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, now in exile, commented in several messages on social media about the appearance, skeptical of the president’s words. “Díaz-Canel compares the current talks with the United States to those that took place more than 10 years ago between Obama and Raúl Castro. This guy seems not to understand what is happening and what will happen if they do not leave power,” he added. “Nothing will happen. The plan of the United States is to keep them there,” one user replied.
Silence appears to be the guideline among Florida congressmembers at this time. María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Gimenez, and Mario Díaz-Balart have posted on their X accounts, but nothing related to Miguel Díaz-Canel’s statements. The latter two did repost a video from Thursday in which Díaz-Balart told journalist Mario J. Pentón that the only conversations taking place with Raúl Castro’s inner circle were aimed at bringing the regime to an end.
“Any negotiation that preserves a one-party communist dictatorship while ignoring the fundamental requirements of the Libertad Act (Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996) is unacceptable.”
In the interview, however, he compared that dialogue with those that took place in Iran or “with the Maduro regime,” he emphasized. A phrase that offers little reassurance to those who fear something remotely similar could happen that would allow high officials of the current Cuban government to remain in power, as has happened in Venezuela.
That concern is reflected in the statement by Miami-Dade County commissioner Natalie Milian Orbis, who considered that “any negotiation that preserves a one-party communist dictatorship while ignoring the fundamental requirements of the LIBERTAD Act is unacceptable.” For now, she is the only one to specifically refer to Díaz-Canel’s announcement. “Today’s announcement (…) highlights the desperation of a regime facing an increasingly deep economic and political crisis,” she said.
Although she believes that Trump “deserves recognition” for the pressure exerted on the Island, “the law of the United States is clear. Sanctions can only be lifted when Cuba begins an irreversible transition toward a multiparty democracy, fully respects basic human rights and civil liberties, and takes concrete steps to return or compensate for the properties confiscated from Cuban and Cuban-American families,” she argued.
Milian Orbis stressed that the pressure must lead to “real changes” and that the United States “must not legitimize or finance their oppression.” “The Cuban people deserve freedom, not another agreement that keeps a communist dictatorship in power,” she added.
“Mexico will always promote peace and diplomatic dialogue, particularly in the face of this injustice that has been committed for many years against the Cuban people through the blockade.”
From Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum welcomed the dialogue, something she had proposed mediating many times. “That’s good,” the president said during a press conference in Colima (western Mexico) when asked about the talks.
“Mexico will always promote peace and diplomatic dialogue, particularly in the face of this injustice that has been committed for many years against the Cuban people through the blockade* that has generated various problems. Therefore, it is essential that this dialogue take place,” the president declared.
Sheinbaum also reiterated Mexico’s support for the Cuban people, both for humanitarian reasons and because of the country’s foreign policy principles. “Mexico will continue supporting the Cuban people through all possible channels, not only as a matter of humanitarian aid but also because our Constitution establishes the self-determination of peoples and solidarity in the search for peace,” she stated.
*Translator’s note: There is, in fact, no US ‘blockade’ on Cuba, but this continues to be the term the Cuban government prefers to apply to the ongoing US embargo. During the Cuban Missile Crisis the US ordered a Naval blockade (which it called a ‘quarantine’) on Cuba in 1962, between 22 October and 20 November of that year. The blockade was lifted when Russia agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from the Island. The embargo had been imposed earlier in February of the same year, and although modified from time to time, it is still in force.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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