Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Firmly Upholds Cuba's Dignity on U.S. Television Interview
Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío was interviewed on the NBC News program Meet the Press on March 22. Despite the provocative and hostile questions from the interviewer, the Deputy Minister firmly upheld the dignity and sovereignty of Cuba while at the same time calling for dialogue and diplomacy based on mutual respect as the way to solve the conflict between Cuba and the U.S.
When asked if Cuba was preparing militarily against the possibility of a U.S. attack given the belligerent statements coming from the U.S. President, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister stated, "Our country has historically been ready to mobilize, as a nation, as a whole, for military aggression. We truly always see it as something far from us. We don't believe it is something that is probable. But we would be naive if we do not prepare [...] But we truly hope that it doesn't occur. We don't see why it would have to occur, and we find no justification whatsoever."
The interviewer played a video clip of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling reporters that Cuba "is in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge are [...] they don't know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge." The Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister was asked to respond to it. Fernández de Cossío stated that Cuba rejects talk of regime change. "The nature of the Cuban government, the structure of the Cuban government and the members of the Cuban government are not part of the negotiation. That is something that no sovereign country negotiates," he emphasized.
Asked about Trump's claim that Cuba is about to "collapse on its own," the Deputy Foreign Minister replied, "What does 'on its own' mean? It is a very bizarre statement. It is claimed by most U.S. political representatives that Cuba will collapse on its own. If this is true, why does the U.S. government need to employ so many resources, so much political capital, so many human resources, to try to destroy the economy of another country? Evidently, it implies that the country does not have the characteristics to collapse on its own."
Elaborating further, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister affirmed that far from Cuba being about to collapse, "We are being as creative as possible. [...] We are mustering all our creativity, our ingenuity to find ways to help our people cope with a reality that we did not choose, for which we are not responsible, to help our people go through this with as little pain as possible. And there is pain, have no doubt."
When the interviewer claimed that 90 per cent of the Cuban people are living in poverty and 80 per cent would like to emigrate, that there are no free elections or a free press, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister responded that he did not know where the interviewer got her information but none of it can be substantiated. He was certain that it came from organizations funded by the U.S. or their proxies. He underscored that the Cuban political system is unassailable. For more than six decades the U.S., the most powerful country in the world, has tried to destroy the Cuban people's chosen system of governance, yet failed.
Fernández de Cossío also noted that, in terms of the UN Human Development Index which measures the well-being of the people not the wealth of a few or the well-being of elites, Cuba has consistently ranked higher than many developed countries including the U.S. He added that the socialist system of Cuba has consistently had high rankings in health care, education and housing, despite the U.S. blockade. Elaborating further, he pointed out that Cuba has had an exemplary record of assisting more than 100 countries with their health care needs and that, unlike the U.S., 90 per cent of Cubans live in the homes they own -- mortgage free -- and enjoy free health care and education as a right.
At the end of the interview, the Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister re-iterated Cuba's right to be, but that this does not preclude the U.S. and Cuba having a respectful dialogue to solve matters of concern, which he was sure the vast majority of the people in the United States also desire and support.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 3 - March-April, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/MS560311.HTM
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