CNN – Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says officials held talks with the United States, with the island facing an economic crisis and intense pressure from Donald Trump.

The president said the talks with the US were led by him, along with former president Raúl Castro and some members of his Communist Party, although he did not specify who participated on behalf of the United States.

“There are international factors that have facilitated these talks,” Díaz-Canel said in a video broadcast Friday on national television, describing the purpose of these talks to “identify the bilateral problems that need a solution.”

In the video, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, nicknamed “El Cangrejo” (The Crab), grandson of Raúl Castro, appears seated behind Díaz-Canel.

Trump himself has said on several occasions that Washington was holding talks with Cuban representatives but this is the first confirmation from Havana. CNN has asked the White House and State Department for comment.

Díaz-Canel said: “This is a very sensitive process that is being approached with responsibility and great sensitivity.”

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a US operation earlier this year, Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to impose tariffs on other countries that sold crude oil to the island. This only worsened the frequent blackouts and fuel shortages facing Cubans.

Last week Trump told CNN Cuba is “is gonna fall pretty soon” and that the government wants “to make a deal so badly.”

The Cuban president said the critical situation facing the island “has to do with the energy blockade” imposed by the United States.

“It is a situation for which we have been preparing in advance,” he said, although he emphasized that “no fuel has entered the country for three months.”

“The impact (of the blockade) is tremendous. It is most brutally manifested in these energy issues,” the president said. “This causes anguish among the population,” he acknowledged.

Díaz-Canel said healthcare had been particularly hard hit. “Right now in the country there are tens of thousands of people waiting for surgery that cannot be performed due to the lack of electricity,” he said.