Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu --> Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Up First Here & Now NPR Politics Podcast Featured Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Planet Money Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Cuban ambassador says U.S. is to blame for island's crisis Even as the U.S. threatens military action, a senior Cuban ambassador blames Washington for the country's crisis and says Cuba is prepared for confrontation if diplomacy collapses. World Cuban ambassador says U.S. is to blame for island's crisis April 24, 20264:43 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition Eyder Peralta Cuban ambassador says U.S. is to blame for island's crisis Listen · 3:40 3:40 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5797439/nx-s1-9743114" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Even as the U.S. threatens military action, a senior Cuban ambassador blames Washington for the country's crisis and says Cuba is prepared for confrontation if diplomacy collapses. Sponsor Message
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The U.S. is threatening military action against Cuba at the same time that high-level negotiations are happening in Havana. It's against that backdrop that NPR's Eyder Peralta interviewed Cuba's ambassador to Mexico, whose dealings with the U.S. go back decades.
EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: I meet Ambassador Johana Tablada de la Torre at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. At the moment, her country is under siege. They have dayslong blackouts. Food, medicine, fuel - everything is scarce. The ambassador lays the blame for all of that suffering on the United States. Since President Trump took office, he declared Cuba a national security threat, in part because of their ties to U.S. adversaries. Trump tightened sanctions, and since the beginning of the year, he put in place a de facto oil blockade.
JOHANA TABLADA DE LA TORRE: So when United States says that what they want is Cuba to open their economy, they are not telling the truth. When the United States says that they care about human rights in Cuba, they are lying blatantly - blatantly, because the United States is the only responsible for the deterioration of the situation, for the sad situation that we're living in hospitals. We built one of the best system of care of the world. So when we have to see the neonatologists using their hands to keep a baby alive because there's no electricity, nobody will say because socialism doesn't work.
PERALTA: I tell her when I was in Cuba, I did hear Cubans blame her government.
They're angry, and they want a change. And I feel like every time that I hear a Cuban official talk and they blame the United States for everything, I never hear any self-reflection. And it's been 70 years.
TABLADA DE LA TORRE: Well, maybe you are not hearing enough our discussions in Cuba, domestic discussion. Every time I see discussions of the Council of Minister of Cuba, I see the president talking about our own insufficience, which is not fair, is - in a moment of maximum pressure, to blame the victim. If we are a family and a big guy is outdoor closing our oxygen, cutting off the water pumpers, cutting off the electricity, I don't think this is the moment to say, could you do it better?
PERALTA: This month, the State Department sent a team to Havana for high-level talks. Ambassador Tablada de la Torre is one of the Cuban government's most seasoned U.S. negotiators. She says when they talk in good faith, good things happen.
TABLADA DE LA TORRE: At the same time, we also draw a line. We are not ready to put on a table of negotiation who's the president of Cuba, which economic system Cuba will have. Those kind of things are decisions that rightfully belong to the Cuban people to take.
PERALTA: But the Trump administration has said they want fundamental changes to the Cuban political and economic system. I tell her if those things are off the table, a diplomatic deal seems unlikely.
And specially after Iran, after what happened in Venezuela, a military intervention - an American military intervention seems very much on the table. It doesn't seem...
TABLADA DE LA TORRE: Probably.
PERALTA: ...Far-fetched.
TABLADA DE LA TORRE: I know.
PERALTA: Is Cuba ready?
TABLADA DE LA TORRE: If they take the responsible, inhuman, unjustified decision to attack on a small nation that has not a single decision that make any harm to any Americans or Cuban Americans, we are ready. We are ready for them.
PERALTA: The Cuban ambassador says she hopes that it doesn't come to that.
Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.
(SOUNDBITE OF SWEETBACK'S "ARABESQUE") Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Correction April 24, 2026 In this story, as in a previous headline and web summary of this report, we incorrectly say that Johana Tablada de la Torre is Cuba’s ambassador to Mexico. While she holds an ambassador’s rank in the Cuban foreign ministry, de la Torre is the deputy chief of mission at the Cuban Embassy in Mexico City. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1166:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(321)},321:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(82)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1139),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(101),c(103),c(1140),c(144),c(1141),c(238),c(48),c(1142)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1166,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();