Overview
- Díaz‑Canel, in an NBC News interview Thursday, said he will not step down and called Cuba a sovereign state.
- He said Cuban leaders answer to voters in Cuba, not Washington, and he welcomed dialogue that comes with no preconditions.
- Cuba’s deputy foreign minister said contacts with the United States are at a very early stage with no details disclosed.
- Cuba continues to face long blackouts and shortages of food and medicine as fuel supplies run short and hospitals struggle to keep services running.
- A Russia‑flagged tanker delivered about 730,000 barrels of oil in late March with a second shipment promised, after the U.S. threatened tariffs on suppliers but allowed that delivery to proceed.