The Denial, Delivered at the Podium
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel used the closing minutes of parliament's mid-year session to knock down a theory that keeps resurfacing at home and abroad: that his government's economic overhaul only exists because Washington forced Havana's hand. Addressing lawmakers on the second and final day of the National Assembly's ordinary session, he insisted the changes grew out of years of internal debate, not a concession squeezed out by sanctions or backchannel talks.
