Cuban official: “We are prepared to pay the maximum price.”

President Trump has made no secret of his desire for regime change in Cuba.

His administration declared Cuba a national security threat and threatened military action against the Communist-ruled island by deploying naval warships off the Cuban coast.

The US has been blocking oil from reaching Cuba for months, triggering crippling power outages. Last week, federal prosecutors charged 94-year-old former Cuban President Raúl Castro with murder as the White House expanded sanctions against Havana leaders.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio further raised the possibility of war, saying “the presence of a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.”

The Times interviewed Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío; Cossío said, sometimes in defiant terms, that the Trump administration had triggered a humanitarian crisis and that the United States needed to solve its own problems before imposing its will on the hemisphere.

The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the chances of reaching a negotiated agreement with Cuba are “not high.” Do you agree with this?

We have a communication channel to find solutions to bilateral problems. In parallel with this channel, the USA also created a humanitarian crisis by putting forward the rhetoric of “taking Cuba” and ending our government.

So, when Rubio says he is not very hopeful, he may mean that the USA does not take this communication channel seriously. We are also taking this issue seriously because we believe that dialogue is the only way to try to resolve bilateral issues with the United States and any government. And we prefer dialogue to conflict.

What concessions is Cuba ready to make?

How should an aggressive country take steps and make concessions?

A poster of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro, former president Raul Castro, and President Miguel Diaz Canel taken in Havana on May 20, 2026.

(YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images)

Can you talk specifically about how the Cuban armed forces are prepared, given the constant threats of military action from the United States?

My generation grew up preparing for US military aggression because the threat was always there. If we have to defend our homeland, we are ready to pay the heaviest price.

There are politicians in the United States who are beating the drums of war against Cuba, who are trying to make excuses, who are trying to portray Cuba as a threat, and who are trying to force the US president to take military action despite the understanding that military action will lead to bloodshed, mostly of Cubans but also of Americans.

The question is: How can a government convince American citizens that it is in their interest to cause death, destruction, and suffering in a neighboring nation to satisfy the ambitions of a small group of wealthy and influential people who have the ear of politicians and powerful people in Washington?

You and other Cuban leaders have said that the United States “does not have the right to determine the Cuban political system” and that changes to Cuba’s political structure and economy are non-negotiable.

But many Cuban citizens also demanded political and economic change. Is Cuba willing to dialogue with Cuban dissidents and grant amnesty to political prison inmates?

You have many US citizens who disagree with the current state of politics in the United States and who disagree with the US spending money on wars abroad.

More than 40 million of its citizens have no health care, and the incarceration rate in the United States is higher than any other country in the world. Does the United States have dialogue with prison communities?

In a few weeks you will celebrate the 250th anniversary of your Declaration of Independence, the non-intervention of another superpower in the affairs of the United States of America.

The right Americans demand for themselves is the same right we demand for ourselves. We must solve our own problems without interference from the US government.

On my last trip to Havana, I was surprised by the number of people who said that they saw U.S. intervention as the only way to move toward political and economic transition because Cuba did not allow change from within. What do you say to them?

I can assure you that I have met hundreds, even thousands, of Americans who believe that the U.S. government should be completely destroyed. This exists in every country, and today it exists in Cuba.

The fact that these people talked to you tells you that in Cuba there is no punishment for the way you think or what you say.

Young people talk on the street in the center of Havana, Cuba, March 20, 2026.

(Natalia Favre/For The Times)

Many people were hesitant to speak to me on the record because they feared the consequences of voicing their political views.

You should be aware of some US journalists and activists who are currently under threat from the US government for reporting what they saw in Cuba. (He was referring to members of the humanitarian fleet heading to Havana, which is currently under investigation by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control).

People wait in the rain to collect their daily bread rations in Havana, Cuba, March 18, 2026.

(Natalia Favre/For The Times)

The United States under Trump adopted an approach hegemonic politics in Latin America. How do you think U.S. actions in Cuba relate to its broader strategy to assert control in the region?

One of the main problems is the failure of US politicians and members of the government to accept that Cuba is a sovereign nation. The same goes for other countries in the region.

Portraying the Western Hemisphere as a landscape belonging to and under the authority of the United States is an affront to international law.

Born out of rebellion against a foreign power, the United States wants to dominate the entire hemisphere. I reject this. This does not mean that we cannot work in friendly relations with the USA and that we cannot establish very good relations.

What are the biggest obstacles to the Havana-Washington relationship right now?

Some are linked to the nature of US politics, where a small group of powerful and influential people have disproportionate influence over the president, and their views prevail over those of the majority of Americans.

I saw statistics Recently, only 15% of US citizens support military action against Cuba.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US President Trump.

(Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

Rubio argued that Cuba is run by a disproportionately small group of people, namely the Castro family and the leaders of GAESA, the military conglomerate that runs many businesses.

Marco Rubio has never set foot in Cuba, so you cannot listen to him as someone knowledgeable about Cuban affairs. He needs to defend this to legitimize a policy aimed at creating a humanitarian crisis in Cuba.

It’s overly swollen. The Castro family does not rule Cuba. GAESA is a large conglomerate with operations in many countries and is much smaller and less monopolistic than many conglomerates in the United States. But even if all of this is true, these are Cuba’s problems.

Can you inform us about the humanitarian crisis? When I was in Cuba a few months ago, people were desperate. They were left without electricity for hours every day. Now the situation has worsened in every respect.

There are now many more hours without electricity. Less public transportation. Many more challenges for hospitals. More problems with availability of running water since the system relies on fuel. There are problems in the transportation of goods.

They punish the whole society. I’m talking about babies, children, pregnant women.

Havana, Cuba.

(Natalia Favre/For The Times)

US efforts to isolate Cuba economically are not new. It’s been sixty years. Some say, “Shouldn’t Cuba be better prepared for something like this?”

During this economic war, Cuba, despite all the restrictions, managed to achieve better health indicators than the United States and better sports, artistic, cultural and scientific indicators than any country in the Western Hemisphere except Canada. This is a tribute to the creativity and power of the Cuban system.

Ask yourself: What other country could have been subjected to such an attack from the US government?