Sawt Falasteen - Oil-starved Cuba confirms talks with US

President Donald Trump has said Cuba will be "next" on his agenda after Iran and the US overthrow of top Cuba ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

In January, he placed the impoverished island under a US oil blockade, strangling its fuel supply on the basis of what he called the "extraordinary threat" posed by Cuba to the United States.

During a meeting with top Cuban authorities, broadcast live on national television, Diaz-Canel confirmed that Havana was negotiating with Washington.

"Cuban officials recently held discussions with representatives of the United States government," he said, confirming negotiations first revealed by Trump in mid-January.

"These conversations have been aimed at seeking solutions -- through dialogue -- to the bilateral differences that exist between our two nations," he added.

US media reports say Raul Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, a grandson of former president Raul Castro, has been holding secret talks for weeks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American.

Rodriguez Castro was seated in the front row at the meeting addressed by Diaz-Canel.

The Cuban regime has been in Trump's sights since the January overthrow of Washington's other bete noire in the Caribbean, Maduro, on whom Cuba relied for cheap oil.

The oil embargo has brought Cuba's economy to the brink of collapse.

The blockade has also starved Cuba's power plants and farms of fuel and brought daily life to a near standstill.

Airlines have curtailed or suspend flights to the island for lack of kerosene.

Trump last weekend predicted that Cuba "is gonna fall pretty soon" and told CNN: "They want to make a deal so badly."

Diaz-Canel said the talks were being facilitated by "international factors" without elaborating.

In a goodwill gesture, Cuba said Thursday it would release 51 prisoners after talks with the Vatican, which has previously acted as mediator between Washington and Havana.

B.Khalifa--SF-PST