What Cubans Would Put First in a Dialogue With the US
revealed by a recent survey
By Laura Roque Valero (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – Amid the geopolitical tensions sparked by the extraction of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela by US military forces, Cuba has repeatedly become part of the public conversation due to its relationship with the Latin American country and the possibility that the US may take some action against the regime in Havana.
After having said that the Cuban regime was about to fall due to government mismanagement, on January 11, 2026, aboard the presidential aircraft Air Force One, President Trump stated: “We are talking with Cuba and you will know very soon.”
The following day, Cuban ruler Miguel Diaz-Canel denied on his social media accounts that there were talks with the United States, except for technical contacts related to migration.
Given the scarce civic spaces in which Cubans can express how they would like that hypothetical dialogue between Cuba and the United States to be conducted—and with the aspiration that the results serve only as a first exploration of an issue that must be studied in more depth—we asked the audience of elTOQUE for their opinion.
The majority of participants in the multi-platform survey published by our outlet on January 12, 2026, agreed that the release of political prisoners and respect for human rights should top any negotiation between Havana and Washington, although the economic and energy crisis also emerged as a key urgency.
“If there were, today, a real and sustained dialogue between Cuba and the United States, what issue should take first place on the agenda?” was the question posed to the audience, and to which our followers responded within 24 hours with a total of 12,800 votes. The responses came through different digital platforms: WhatsApp (4,766 votes), YouTube (1,512 votes), X (83 votes), Telegram (508 votes), and Facebook (5,931 votes).
The responses across four options of priority issues reveal significant consensus, though with nuances depending on the social network: political prisoners and human rights appear as the priority for a majority of respondents, followed by the deep economic and energy crisis Cubans are experiencing.
Clear Priority: Human Rights and Political Prisoners
In most of the spaces consulted (Facebook, X, and YouTube), the option “Freedom for political prisoners and human rights” led the voting. On YouTube’s community tab, that alternative obtained 81 percent, leaving far behind the economic and energy crisis (12 percent) and other issues traditionally central to the bilateral relationship.
A similar trend was observed on X: 67.5 percent of the 83 participants identified political prisoners and human rights as the most urgent issue. On Facebook, that option came in first place with 2,945 votes—50 percent of the total—confirming that for a considerable portion of the public, the core of the US–Cuba conflict is not merely economic or migratory, but essentially political and civil.
The results show a widespread perception: without progress in fundamental freedoms and without the release of individuals imprisoned for political reasons, any dialogue would lack legitimacy or real impact. For many participants, this point should perhaps not only open the agenda but condition the rest of the issues. In the current scenario, this has also been the main demand of the Venezuelan opposition to representatives of chavismo and one of the first actions taken by Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s interim president.
Although in most platforms it ranked second, the economic and energy crisis appears as a serious problem, especially in elTOQUE’s information channels.
On WhatsApp, that option was the most voted, with 2,535 responses—surpassing even human rights. Something similar occurred on Telegram: the economic and energy crisis reached 56 percent, versus 48 percent who mentioned political prisoners. The data suggests that in more closed interaction spaces, made up mostly of users residing inside Cuba, daily survival and the collapse of basic services prevail as immediate concerns. Among the more than 75,000 followers of our WhatsApp channel, 96 percent reside in Cuba.
Long blackouts, shortages of food and medicine, inflation, and the precarious state of the energy system seem to push part of the population to prioritize practical and urgent solutions.
Migration and family reunification—one of the historic axes of the US–Cuba relationship—received low percentages on almost all platforms. On YouTube it barely reached 1 percent, while on X it got 3.6 percent of the 83 votes, and on Facebook it was the least voted option with 167 points.
On Telegram, it also ranked as the least chosen issue—20 percent of the 508 votes—while on WhatsApp it placed third with 781 votes, indicating that although it does not top overall priorities, it remains a sensitive matter, especially for those affected by family separation or irregular migration processes.
One of the most striking data points of the survey is the relatively low priority given to reviewing or lifting US sanctions against Cuba. On YouTube it received 6 percent, on X just 2.4 percent, and on Facebook it remained around 2 percent. On WhatsApp it was also the least chosen option, with 541 votes.
Only on Telegram did this option reach 30 percent of the 508 votes recorded on that channel, confirming that perceptions vary depending on the space and audience profile. In the overall balance, the embargo or sanctions do not appear as the starting point for a dialogue between both countries.
An Additional Demand: Free Elections
On Facebook, an option not included on other platforms emerged strongly: “Free elections,” which received 1,337 votes (23 percent), placing it as the second priority in that space. This data broadens the scope of the debate and reinforces the idea that, for a significant portion of the public, the solution involves structural changes to the political system, beyond isolated bilateral agreements.
Taken together, the results indicate that the citizens consulted expect any dialogue between Cuba and the United States to begin with people, rights, and freedoms, without ignoring the severity of the economic crisis affecting daily life on the island.
In the hundreds of comments also left by users on the survey post, some asked to include other topics such as the immediate removal of Cuba’s dictators, a transition to democracy, the return of emigrants, political activism without repression, and freedom.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.