Cuba FM says not to negotiate with US under pressure

Cuba's Foreign Minster Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said here that Cuba will never negotiate under pressure and would not make any concession to the US.

The visiting Cuban Foreign Minister made the remarks on Monday in response to US President Donald Trump's order of tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Donald Trump's policy on Cuba is ill-advised and going back to the past failed policy, he said.

"Cuba will never negotiate under the pressure," he said, adding that the sovereignty and independence of his country must be respected.

The Cuban minster said but his country still needs to wait to analyze the negative effects of the Trump policy.

Cuba has the patience to normalize the relation with the United States, he said, questioning Trump's motivation of going back to the failed policy on Cuba.

The foreign minister called Trump's remark on Cuba was a "grotesque spectacle" straight out of the cold war and will strengthen patriotism in Cuba.

The new policy is not only a setback of the US policy on Cuba, but also would affect the US relationship with Latin America, he added.

President Trump last Friday ordered tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba and prohibitions on America's business dealing with Cuba's military, rolling back parts of former president Barack Obama's Cuba policy, saying that easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people.

"When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come to the table to negotiate that much better deal for Cubans, for Americans," Trump said.

Rodriguez also said his country would not return the political refugees who had received the asylum from the Cuban government to the US, saying as the US has no legal or moral basis to demand that.

--IANS

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