Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel told NBC News that he will not resign, in the first interview a Cuban leader has given to a US television network since Fidel Castro appeared on Meet the Press in 1959.
Why it matters: the interview signals Havana’s willingness to engage US media directly at a moment when the Trump administration is applying the most aggressive sanctions regime against Cuba in decades.
What he said
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Díaz-Canel whether he would be “willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba.” Before answering, the Cuban president asked whether she had ever posed the same question to any other president in the world.
“Stepping down is not part of our vocabulary,” he said. He suggested the question reflected the US State Department’s position rather than journalistic inquiry.
The pressure on Havana
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed more than 240 new sanctions on Cuba, signed Executive Order 14380 declaring the Cuban regime an “extraordinary threat” to US national security, and blocked the supply of Venezuelan oil to the island following the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba’s economy has contracted for three consecutive years. Power outages are routine. Food shortages have driven hundreds of thousands of Cubans to attempt migration since 2022.
What happens next
The full interview will air on Meet the Press on Sunday. An extended version will be available on NBCNews.com. The interview’s reception in Washington may shape whether Congress takes up new Cuba-related legislation this session.