\n<\/p>\n
NBC\u00a0 aired a snippet from an interview with Cuba\u2019s figurehead \u201cPresident\u201d Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel on Thursday night in which he claimed that he will not resign amid calls from the United States for him to step down and for the rogue communist regime to reach a deal with the U.S.<\/p>\n
D\u00edaz-Canel spoke with NBC News\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d moderator Kristen Welker in Havana on Thursday, marking the first time NBC has interviewed a Castro regime official since its 1959<\/a> interview with late communist dictator Fidel Castro, and the first time the figurehead \u201cPresident\u201d has spoken with an American broadcast network. NBC aired a roughly five minute-long clip, with the full interview scheduled to air on Sunday.<\/p>\n The interview occurs at a time when the dysfunctional Cuban communist regime \u2014 which plunged Cuba into a state of abject misery through 67 years\u2019 worth of disastrous communist policies \u2014 finds itself facing an extremely complex situation after the United States arrested Venezuela\u2019s deposed socialist dictator Nicol\u00e1s Maduro on January 3.<\/p>\n Maduro was one of the Cuban regime\u2019s most crucial benefactors and helped sustain its Cuban allies through constant shipments of virtually free oil in exchange for personal security and assistance in helping sustain his regime in Venezuela.<\/p>\n Last month, D\u00edaz-Canel personally confirmed<\/a> that representatives from the Cuban regime have engaged have engaged in \u201csensible\u201d talks with U.S. government officials, finally acknowledging said talks after President Donald Trump had repeatedly made mention<\/a> of them over the past weeks. Days later, D\u00edaz-Canel acknowledged<\/a> that Cuba\u2019s true dictator, nonagenarian Ra\u00fal Castro, is actively involved in the talks.<\/p>\n Asked by\u00a0Welker if he would be willing to step down to if it meant \u201csaving Cuba,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel rejected the notion under the assertion that \u201cstepping down is not part of our vocabulary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn Cuba, the people who are in leadership positions are not elected by the U.S. government, and they don\u2019t have a mandate from the U.S. government,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel said. \u201cWe have a free sovereign state, a free state. We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the interview snippet, the figurehead \u201cpresident\u201d claimed that he was \u201celected\u201d to the position of president \u2014 when it reality, the Cuban communist regime is a one-party system that does not allow for the existence of any kind of opposition party \u2014 and Ra\u00fal Castro, who assumed the position after his brother Fidel passed away in 2016, is the true dictator of Cuba.<\/p>\n