Hi everybody, Cheryl Akison here.

Welcome to a special edition of Full Measure After Hours.

Today, Cuba on the Cusp, a direct message to Donald Trump.

Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez DeCosio addresses current tensions and communications between the U.S. and Cuba.

In 2023, I visited Cuba for my television program full measure.

The island nation was economically stressed and trying to shed some of its Soviet-style economic traits in favor of

embracing more open market-type features. Fascinating. But things have grown only worse since then for

the economy, particularly with the U.S. invasion of Venezuela. Cuba was already having trouble

buying oil to power its nation due to the long-standing

U.S. embargo against Cuba, but with the Venezuela supply now gone, the economic status has turned

dire. As you're about to hear, there are power blackouts of up to 18 hours a day in some

cases, according to Cuba's deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernandez de Koso.

He says the U.S. has indeed requested an open line of communications with Cuba. That's new.

Cuba has accepted. The U.S. has also indicted the brother of former leader Fidel Castro.

Is military conflict imminent? There's lots of news here Fidel Castro, is military conflict imminent?

There's lots of news here in this interview. So here's Carlos Fernandez de Cascio.

Can you give a brief overview as to the latest that you know is happening between the US and

Cuba in terms of any discussions or talks and at what levels?

We have a channel of communication by proposal of the United States that we accepted.

We have a tradition of being ready to use dialogue as a way to solve

problems with the United States and even with any country. We truly believe that the alternative

to dialogue is always conflict and we prefer not to be there. But today, even though this dialogue

...