US says it is open to talks with Cuba if it changes government
The United States has said it is open to speaking with Havana about a political transition if Cuba moves toward new leadership. The comments came after President Donald Trump called Cuba a "failed state" at the United Nations, prompting the Cuban delegation to walk out of the assembly. The exchange has added fresh tension to an already strained relationship between Washington and Havana.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in New York that Cuba had a "golden opportunity" to place itself on an "irreversible path towards a better future". He said Washington was prepared to be helpful if Cuban officials were open to it. Rubio also said the US could work with some Cuban leaders, while describing others as publicly resistant to change.
The remarks come as the US continues to apply pressure on Cuba through its long-running trade embargo and a more recent oil blockade. According to the supplied material, that pressure has contributed to fuel shortages and ongoing blackouts on the island. Cuban officials have also blamed the situation for difficulties in providing food and other basic needs for the population.
The latest comments matter because they link diplomacy directly to political change, rather than to a narrower discussion about bilateral issues. The US has sought to remove the post-revolutionary government in Havana since 1959, when Fidel Castro's communist revolution brought the current system to power. That history continues to shape every major exchange between the two countries, especially when sanctions and domestic hardship are part of the discussion.
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Rubio, whose parents left Cuba before the revolution, said businesses and investors from the US, including members of the Cuban diaspora, would be ready to help if political reforms created space for an economic transition. Trump, meanwhile, told the UN that his administration was seeking a "fundamental change" in Cuba and said the communist government was under the greatest pressure it had ever faced. The Cuban side has denied that any talks are under way, and earlier this month Foreign Minister Bruno RodrÃguez described the embargo as a policy of pressure.
What remains unclear is whether Washington's latest signal amounts to a genuine opening or another public demand for regime change. It is also not clear whether Cuban officials see any basis for dialogue under current conditions. For now, the key issue is whether the pressure campaign, including sanctions and the oil blockade, leads to any shift in Havana's position or further hardens it.
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