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'Eliminating Energy Blockade Top Priority' As Cuba Confirms Direct Talks With US
Cuba confirmed on April 20 that it recently held direct talks with U.S. officials in Havana, marking a rare diplomatic engagement as tensions persist over Washington’s long-standing economic restrictions on the communist nation.
Alejandro Garcia del Toro, deputy director general for U.S. affairs at Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in remarks published on April 20 by Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma that discussions were underway.
“This is a delicate matter which, as we have already said, we are handling discreetly,” Garcia del Toro said.
He confirmed that “a meeting between Cuban and U.S. delegations recently took place here in Cuba,” adding that U.S. participants included undersecretaries of state, while Cuba’s delegation was led at the deputy minister level.
“During the meeting, neither party set deadlines or made coercive statements, as reported by the US press. All information exchange was conducted with respect and professionalism,” he said.
As Evgenia Filimianova reports for The Epoch Times, Cuba framed the discussions as heavily focused on easing U.S. economic pressure, particularly restrictions affecting energy supplies.
“Eliminating the energy blockade against the country was a matter of top priority for our delegation,” Garcia del Toro said.
He described the policy as “an unjustified punishment for the entire Cuban population” and called it “a form of global blackmail against sovereign states.”
The dispute reflects broader economic strains on the island, where rolling blackouts and fuel shortages have intensified public hardship in recent months.
Cuba’s energy crisis has become a central issue in its relations with Washington, as the government seeks relief from sanctions that limit access to fuel imports. A main supplier, Venezuela, has curtailed oil shipments to Cuba since the United States captured dictator Nicolás Maduro in January.
The talks come as the Trump administration has increased pressure on Cuba, both rhetorically and through policy measures.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an April 8 briefing that the Cuban government is in a weakened state.
Clarifying Trump’s recent remark that “Cuba is next,” she told reporters that he meant “the Cuban regime is bound to fall.”
“The country is very weak. They’re in a very weak position economically, obviously, and financially,” Leavitt said on April 8.
The administration has framed its approach as economic and diplomatic pressure rather than military action. Speaking on March 27 in Miami, Trump said his strategy of “peace through strength” relies on a “great military” combined with economic leverage and negotiation.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated a hardline stance on Cuba’s political system during remarks to reporters on March 27.
“The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent communist,” Rubio said, arguing that Cuba’s system “has to change” for the country to achieve economic development.
He added that Cuba’s economic model is “a nonsensical system,” and said the Cuban people are suffering due to leadership decisions and lack of reform.
U.S.–Cuba relations have been strained for decades, dating back to the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, which overthrew the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista.
The situation in Cuba has drawn attention from other global leaders. In a joint statement on April 18, the governments of Mexico, Spain, and Brazil expressed “deep concern regarding the serious humanitarian crisis the Cuban people face” and called for measures to alleviate suffering while respecting international law.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on April 20 that he sees no justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba, stating the country poses no “discernible threat” to others.
Tyler Durden Tue, 04/21/2026 - 19:40The intriguing dynamic at play in John Harbaugh’s first NFL draft with Giants
FBI Officially Investigating Reports Of Deaths, Disappearances Of US Scientists
Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
The FBI said it is leading federal efforts to investigate potential connections in reports of dead or missing U.S. scientists in recent years, coming days after President Donald Trump expressed alarm.
“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
The spokesperson, who didn’t provide additional comment, was responding to a question about whether the federal law enforcement agency was involved. Last month, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) called on the bureau to investigate the deaths.
This past week, Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions from reporters about roughly 10 scientists who went missing or died in recent years and whether those incidents involved any national security concerns.
Reports of the scientists dying or going missing, Trump told reporters on April 16, should be considered serious because “some of them were very important people.“ He added that he hopes they are ”random” occurrences.
A day earlier, Leavitt was asked a similar question during a daily press briefing, with the reporter saying that some of the scientists had knowledge of nuclear or aerospace research.
“I haven’t spoken to our relevant agencies about it. I will certainly do that, and we’ll get you an answer. If true, of course, that’s definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into,” she said in response.
Multiple House lawmakers, including Reps. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), have suggested the possibility that their disappearances or deaths are connected.
“The numbers seem very high in these certain areas of research. I think we’d better be paying attention, and I don’t think we should trust our government,” Burchett told the Daily Mail in March, referring to the researchers.
In the interview, Burchett referred to the case of a former Air Force general, William McCasland, who went missing from his New Mexico home without his phone or glasses in February. His colleague, Monica Reza, who works as a rocket scientist, was also reported missing last year after going hiking in Southern California.
Speaking to Fox News this week, Burlison said he was particularly concerned about McCasland’s case, describing him as an expert on unidentified flying objects, or UFOs. He said that his office was working to contact the former general about a separate congressional investigation.
“He was on our list to talk to, and he disappeared, so that kind of piqued our interest,” Burlison told Fox News.
He later added, “It’s just really, really strange that in about a five-month period of time, four or five people walked out their front door and never returned, and were all doing advanced aerospace research.”
NASA released a statement on Monday saying that, while it is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists,” there is nothing to suggest “a national security threat.”
“The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able,” NASA wrote in a post on X, responding to a video with Leavitt’s comments.
Tyler Durden Tue, 04/21/2026 - 19:15