On Friday, Trump rolled back his predecessor Barack Obama's historic opening of relations with Cuba, announcing new business and travel restrictions to the Caribbean island nation. The White House noted that the United States retained the embargo imposed on Cuba and opposed the appeals of the United Nations and other international organizations to abolish it.
"I did not hear a single word in the speech of president Trump and did not read a single sentence in the order, in the presidential decree, which would exclude dialogue or cooperation or indicate the failure to fulfill previously signed bilateral agreements. And surely, from the Cuban side there is readiness for dialogue and cooperation, in the context of different positions in issues that have already been discussed," the minister said.
The Foreign Minister noted that one of the factors that prompted Obama to enter into a dialogue with Cuba was the strong, unanimous consensus of the Latin American and Caribbean countries that advocated the cancellation of the economic blockade of Cuba and opposed its exclusion from global political processes.
"Thus, the previous US policy, including the position of President Obama and all his predecessors, has gradually turned into an insurmountable obstacle in relations between the United States and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean," Parrilla said.
From the minister's point of view, Trump's words that Cuba is allegedly responsible for aggravation of the crisis in Venezuela "resembles a witch hunt."