Overview
- U.S. officials delivered the deadline in secret talks in Havana, naming artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and rapper Maykel Osorbo as priorities for release.
- The State Department confirmed the delegation’s visit and said the administration remains committed to freeing all political prisoners, including the two men.
- Envoys proposed bringing Starlink satellite internet to Cuba and said any change to the decades-old embargo would require compensation to Americans for confiscated property.
- Cuban authorities have announced large pardons as humanitarian acts, while rights groups say few well-known dissidents were among those freed.
- The push comes with tighter U.S. sanctions and restricted oil shipments that have deepened fuel shortages, alongside media reports of Pentagon contingency planning and a U.S. surveillance drone near the island.