US President Donald Trump claimed at the weekend that his government has begun talks with Cuba, days after launching an attempt to cut off the island’s oil supplies.

Mr Trump has given more attention to the socialist country after his administration kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and damaged relations with European governments by demanding that Denmark hand sovereignty over Greenland to the US.

On Saturday, the far-right president did not offer any details about the talks or when they happened, simply saying: “We’re starting to talk to Cuba.”

Mr Trump signed an executive order last Thursday imposing tariffs on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba. This action puts pressure on Mexico, which Cuba became dependent on for oil after Mr Trump halted oil shipments from Venezuela in the wake of Mr Maduro’s abduction.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that it could cause a humanitarian crisis, saying on Friday that she would seek alternatives to continue helping Cuba.

Posting on social media that day, Cuban President Migel Diaz-Canel said the Trump administration was “conducting its country’s foreign policy through force and exercising its ambitions to guarantee imperialist hegemony.

“[The US] is claiming the right to dictate to sovereign states which nations they can trade with and which ones can export their national products.

“We will face this new onslaught with firmness, equanimity and the certainty that reason is absolutely on our side. The decision is clear: homeland or death! We will prevail.”

Meanwhile, US charge d’affaires Laura Dogu arrived in Caracas on Saturday to reopen the US diplomatic mission in Venezuela seven years after ties were severed.

“My team and I are ready to work,” Ms Dogu said in a social media post.

Venezuela and the US broke off diplomatic relations in February 2019 after Mr Trump gave public support to opposition politician Juan Guaido, who had proclaimed himself interim president the month before.