Ada Peralta

During an address on state television, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel admitted for the first time that the Cuban government was in direct negotiations with the U.S.

government.

Díaz-Canel said the talks were at the initial stages.

He said Cuba was taking a peaceful approach toward finding solutions of, quote, bilateral differences.

He did not give any details on the substance of the negotiations.

Cuba hasn't received any oil for three months now.

It means the island has experienced rolling blackouts, leaving hospitals and other public institutions on the brink of collapse.

President Trump has said he expects the Cuban government to collapse or negotiate a transition like the one in Venezuela.

Ida Peralta, NPR News, Maracaibo, Venezuela.

According to Cuba's interior minister, a speedboat was spotted by its border patrol.

When they approached the boat to identify it, the Cuban government says the occupants opened fire.

Cuban authorities fired back, killing four people and wounding six.

The government says the injured were given medical aid.

It's unclear who the people on the boat were, but the incident comes at a moment of heightened tension between the U.S.

and Cuba.

Thirty years ago this week, the Cuban government shot down an airplane run by Brothers to the Rescue, a Miami-based group who rescued Cuban migrants at sea.

Cuba insisted the plane violated their airspace.

The United States Congress responded with sweeping sanctions that are still in place today.

Eder Peralta, NPR News, Mexico City.

His name was Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, but he was known as El Mencho.