Cuba’s Díaz‑Canel says he won’t step down under US pressure

Rick Jervis, USA TODAY Fri, April 10, 2026 at 1:23 AM UTC

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A defiant Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said he won’t step down as Cuba’s president if pressured by U.S. officials during talks between the two countries.

His remarks were broadcast on April 9 during an interview in Havana with NBC's Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker.

Pressed by Welker whether he would consider stepping down if the U.S. insisted, Díaz-Canel leaned forward in his seat.

“Would you ask that question of Trump?” he said, adding, “in Cuba, the people who are in leadership positions are not elected by the U.S. government. They don’t have a mandate by the U.S. government.”

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel raises his fist next to Progressive International's general coordinator, David Adler, during an event at the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in Havana, on March 21, 2026.

Díaz-Canel’s comments come in the wake of news that U.S. and Cuban officials have met to discuss future relations between the two longtime Cold War foes. Trump officials have said the initial talk focused on expanding economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

When reports of the meeting first surfaced, Rubio stressed that the "status quo" in Cuba is unacceptable but cautioned that change on the island could take time. "It doesn’t have to change all at once," he said. "It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next … But Cuba needs to change. It needs to change dramatically.”

He later hardened his view to say that Cuba can only change if it has new leadership.

“The bottom line is, their economy doesn’t work. It’s a non-functional economy,” Rubio said last month during a White House meeting. “They’re in a lot of trouble, and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge.”

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This file photo shows a group of U.S. sailors from the battleship Connecticut and a gun they captured at Cape Haitien during the U.S. occupation of Haiti in 1915.

More: EXCLUSIVE: Cuba pitches US economic roadmap as Trump pressures Havana

Trump has signaled he wants Cuba to "make a deal," and he is prepared to use Washington's leverage on Cuba, saying of the country that it may face "a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover."

Díaz-Canel was handpicked by Cuba’s former leader Raúl Castro − the brother of Fidel Castro, who led the 1959 revolution that toppled the Cuban government − as his successor, and is known to firmly adhere to the country’s communist principles.

The U.S.-Cuba talks come as the U.S. has imposed a virtual oil embargo on the island nation, choking off the oil that once arrived from Venezuela and plunging Cuba into an energy crisis. Prolonged blackouts have draped the island and hospitals struggle with providing adequate care.

More: Cubastroika: Inside Trump plan to save Cuba's economy and win control

In the interview, Díaz-Canel signaled he welcomed talks with the U.S. but remained defiant against any conditions.

“We’re interested in engaging in dialogue and discuss any topic without any condition,” he said, “not demanding changes from our political system, just as we’re not demanding changes from the American system.”

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