Cuba Says Will 'Never Negotiate under Pressure'

Cuba will "never negotiate under pressure," Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said Monday, responding to a toughening of the U.S. line on links with his country.

"We will never negotiate under pressure or threat...," he told reporters in Vienna during a visit to Austria.

"Cuba will make no concessions on its sovereignty and its independence, will not negotiate over its principles and will never accept (imposed) conditions," he added.

No U.S. presidential directive was going to make Cuba change its policy, he insisted.

U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced a partial rollback of his predecessor Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba.

He made the announcement during a visit to Florida, which has a large community of exiled Cubans hostile to the Havana regime.

Rodriguez denounced the "grotesque spectacle" of Trump's announcement in front of a crowd of anti-Castro activists at a theater in Miami.

"(Cuban) policy cannot be brought to its knees by a presidential directive by the United States," he said.

Although the policy changes announced were limited, Trump tightened rules for Americans traveling to Cuba, banned ties with a military-run tourism firm and reaffirmed the existing U.S. trade embargo.