We have a unique opportunity to speak with the Deputy Foreign Minister the Republic of Cuba right now, Carlos Fernandez Dicosio is joining us from our studios in New York and it's great to see you, minister. Thank you for being with us today on Bloomberg. I had the pleasure of being in Havana in twenty nineteen for the rededication
of the Hemingway House. At that time I got an earfull about the different policy, the different relationship that the Trump White House had with Cuba than the Obama White House. That relationship has not changed meaningfully since Joe Biden was elected, has it.
I agree with you. There has been changes in the sense of a few areas that the US government has decided are or benefit for the US and or benefit of Cuba cooperation, for example in law enforcement, in areas of science, technology, health, some academic, But the meaningful part of the relationship, which is the economic blockade and the aggression against the Cuban economy, has not changed. It's been faithfully applied by the Biden administration.
So as the outcome for Cuba serve the same regardless of who wins. In November of this year, or do you fear that there could be even more intensified policy under a second Trump administration when it comes to things like sanctions and potential economic ramifications for your country.
Like most people, we can't guess who's going to win the elections, and it's very difficult to truly understand what they promise and what they're going to do. What we hope or what we look for, is that whoever wins does not apply more restrictions, for example, for Cubans that live in the US to relate with their families and their country of origin, or for business people to have
even more limitations to do business with Cuba. We would hope that perhaps they ease them or lift them, or for Americans to travel, they're prohibited to travel to Cuba, and almost absolutely perhaps they will give the America is the freedom to be able to travel as they travel to other countries. That's what we hope.
What do you hear from the US when it comes to Cuba's relationship with Russia, because this is something that is obviously considered a very delicate matter here in Washington. The fact that Russia is investing in Cuba, the fact that Russia in fact, drafted some Cubans apparently to fight against Ukraine. Is that the point of friction between Havana and Washington right now.
The US government knows that most of the investments that take place in Cuba are from European countries or Canada, not so much from Russia. And they also know that we were the ones that I learned and made public that a few Cubans that were in Europe were being recruited for the war, and we took measures for those that were attempting from Cuba to also travel to the war.
And we've learned that there are people on both sides, both in Ukraine and Russia of Cuban origin, most of them recruited in Europe, not in Cuba.
Well, sir, considering people who are of Cuban origin brings us to the wider question around migration. I know you and your government have been involved in talks with the US on the issue of migration specifically, Is that an area where progress is being made? Can you just characterize for us how that effort is going.
That's an area in which the US government and Cuban government has been able to manage, regardless of the administration in the White House for decades already with ups and downs. At this moment, we have agreements in place that we implement and issues on which we discuss that put a limit to the uncontrolled flow, which is what we try to cut. But we made it very clear that as long as the US has a policy of making life difficult for Cubans, it is logical for them to want
to migrate to a more prosperous economy. Above all, if there's an invitation by the US that they will get a privileged treatment if they reach the border of the United States by whatever means.
So what is the next step? What are you asking for from Washington when you talk to the administration, when Havana engages with Washington. What could Joe Biden do now to begin thawing this relationship with such a close neighbor.
What we're not doing is we're not asking for aid or preferential trade conditions or financial support. What we're asking is to be left alone, to allow Cubans to try to develop economy, to try allow us to put in place of transformations that we have identified that are needed to push our economy forward and not make life difficult for the people of Cuba.
Well, sir, and you alluded to the idea that you think the extent of the migration we're seeing from Cuba may have to do with the difficulty economically of what life in Cuba actually looks like. But is there really nothing your own government can do on your side in terms of civil liberties, for example, that may also play a role in stemming that tide.
Civil liberties is not the main issue. Most of the experts from US and Cuba who follow migration would say that it's basically an economic migration. But I do grant that every country has problems in economic policy, in the discomfort of people with political situation. It happens in all of Latin America, it happens in the US. I'm sure that if you pull people here in the US, not everybody is happy with the government, not everybody, but he's
happy with the economic condition. But what's extraordinary, what's unique, is that the most powerful nation in the world has a policy specifically determined to make life as unbearable as possible for the population. And so it's in the hands of the United States to tackle that. It's an illegitimate approach. So the rest we can deal with but this extraordinary factor has to be dealt with by the US government.
Minister. There was a visit by Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister in Cuba at the time of Alexei Navalny's death. That is a story that resonated very loudly here in the US. It's one that the Biden administration took a very strong stand on when it came to Russia's handling of Alexi Navalny. Did Havana have a message for Moscow when it came to Navalney's death.
We have a close relationship with China, with Russia, and there's no it's no surprise that I have visits for ministers, but Navaldi was not part of our agenda, all.
Right, Deputy four An Minister of Cuba, Carlos Fernandez di Costio, thank you so much for joining us, joining us of course today from New York. We appreciate your time, sir,