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Lula is seeking re-election in October and would want to " avoid thorny issues and anything that could be used against him", Lopes said, as Trump is facing his own domestic pressure ahead of the US midterms in November.

The officials involved in preliminary discussions with Cuban authorities also told The Associated Press that they are not optimistic the communist government will accept an offer for tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, two years of free Starlink internet access for all Cubans, agricultural assistance and infrastructure support.

U.S. officials have often rejected Cuban complaints that the American embargo on the island and, more recently, the Trump administration’s energy blockade are responsible for the country’s hardships.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks, say there is still time for the government to accept. They cautioned, though, that Trump could change his mind at any time and that military options are still on the table.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the measures as “collective punishment” and denounced the U.S. government’s “genocidal intent against Cuba.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hard line against Cuba’s leadership, has said repeatedly that the country’s government has failed. He said this week that Cuba’s economic model doesn’t work and those in power “can’t fix it.”

“And the reason that they can’t fix it is not just because they’re communist. That’s bad enough,” he told reporters Tuesday at the White House. “But they’re incompetent communists. The only thing worse than a communist is an incompetent one.”

Rubio is visiting Rome and Vatican City, meeting Pope Leo XIV on Thursday in part to discuss Cuba, where the Catholic Church has significant influence.

One U.S. official said it is an open question as to whether Cuba’s top leadership is willing to meet U.S. conditions, which include the release of political prisoners, an end to political and religious repression, and an opening to American private sector investment.

At the same time, the official said the door has not closed to dialogue that could help both countries given Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. The United States sees a national security threat in what the official called increasing influence on the island by China and Russia, including intelligence and logistics cooperation.

“Negotiations on issues like regime change or removing the president are out of the question,” Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations Ernesto Soberón Guzmán told reporters last week. “No internal affairs of Cuba are on the table.”

Guzmán also told The Associated Press last month that Havana will not abide by any American “ultimatums” to release political prisoners and that Cuba’s leaders are “preparing for all scenarios” if Trump makes good on threats to intervene.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about military action in Cuba.

The top State Department participants had not been previously reported. It was the first U.S. government flight to land in Cuba other than at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay since 2016, during former President Barack Obama’s period of rapprochement with the island.

That meeting was “professional and cordial” but did not produce definitive results, leaving the U.S. delegation skeptical that the Cuban leadership is willing to consider even modest reforms that could ameliorate deteriorating humanitarian conditions, that official said.

But Cuba’s crises have deepened following the energy blockade, imposed after the U.S. in January removed Nicolás Maduro as leader of Venezuela, which was Cuba’s main source of energy.

Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Aamer Madhani and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.