Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday his government is engaged in talks with the United States and that the two countries are moving away from confrontation, confirming earlier reporting by the Miami Herald about the high-level contacts.

In footage of a government meeting aired on state television early morning, he said Cuban officials have recently held talks with representatives of the United States government.

“These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations. International factors have facilitated these exchanges,” he said. Crucially, he added, the exchanges have aimed to move away from confrontation.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has said repeatedly that his administration has been in contact with people in Cuba. He has urged the Cuban government to make “a deal” with the United States after he moved to cut off oil supplies from Venezuela and Mexico to Cuba as leverage to pressure Cuban leaders to negotiate. Trump said recently Cuba was about to “fall” and that Cuban leaders were eager to make an agreement.

The purpose of the talks, Díaz-Canel said in the video of the meeting with members of the government and the Communist Party, “is, first, to identify the bilateral problems that require solutions based on their severity and impact, and second, to find solutions to these identified problems.”

He added that the talks seek to “determine the willingness of both sides to take concrete actions for the benefit of the people of both countries” and identify areas of cooperation “to confront threats and guarantee the security and peace of both nations, as well as in the region where we live and work, which is the Latin American and Caribbean region.”

The Miami Herald reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s advisers met with Raúl Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, in Saint Kitts last month and that representatives from both governments were expected to meet later also in Saint Kitts.

U.S. Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart told the Miami Herald that the Trump administration has been having conversations with several people in Raúl Castro’s close circle, similar to discussions held with Venezuela’s strongman Nicolás Maduro before he was captured in a military raid earlier this year.

But this is the first time the Cuban government has acknowledged the high-level discussions.

“It is important to remember that it has not been, nor is it now, the practice of the leadership of the Cuban Revolution to respond to speculative campaigns on these types of issues,” Diaz-Canel said. “This is an issue that is unfolding as part of a very sensitive process, conducted with seriousness and responsibility because it affects bilateral relations between the two nations. It demands enormous and arduous efforts to find a solution and create spaces for understanding that will allow us to move forward and distance ourselves from confrontation in the exchanges that have taken place.”

“We have expressed—that is, the Cuban side has expressed—the willingness to carry out this process on the basis of equality and respect for the political systems of both states, for the sovereignty and self-determination of our government,” Díaz-Canel said.

During a press conference carried on national TV Friday morning, Díaz-Canel described the conversations with the Trump administration as sensitive, discreet and in “the first phases.” While he described them as “recent,” he hinted the two sides have been in contact for longer. Rodriguez Castro, Raúl Castro’s grandson, was present at both the press conference and the previous government meeting, even though he has no official title.

“These are processes that are carried out with great discretion; they are long processes that must begin by establishing contact, creating opportunities for dialogue, and fostering a willingness to engage in dialogue,” Diaz-Canel said. “All of this takes time, and from there, agendas are built, negotiations begin, conversations take place, and agreements are reached—things we are still far from because we are in the initial phases of this process.”

He told reporters it wasn’t the first time that the two countries engaged in dialogue with international support, pointing to negotiations with the Obama administration from 2014-16.

Late on Thursday, the Cuban government said it will release 51 prisoners as a gesture of “good will” with the Vatican. In his television appearance Friday he insisted it was a “sovereign” decision, “no one imposed it,” appearing to suggest it was not linked to the talks with the United States.

He said new measures will be announced Monday that would allow Cubans abroad to participate further in the island’s economy, though he provided no further details. Trump has been suggesting that he wants Cuban Americans “to be taken care of” in a deal with Cuba.

Joe Garcia, a longtime advocate of Cuban Americans’ economic engagement with Cuba, said he was feeling hopeful that Díaz-Canel’s comments were the prelude to reforms that would allow exiles to help Cuba be “a more prosperous” country.

No reforms yet, but a more moderate tone

Cuba is going through one if its worst economic crisis in his history. Still the country’s leader did not announce any significant economic reforms despite growing expectations among the population about change. He was keen to stress that the current situation was temporary and that the government was able to overcome it on its own.

“Not everything has an immediate solution, but there are solutions,” he said. “The country lives, the country is organized,” he said pushing against the notion that Cuba is or is close to becoming a failed state.

While acknowledging the negotiations, Díaz-Canel quickly pivoted to blaming the United States for the country’s dire economic situation. He stressed his government had been acting with urgency to soften the blow of what he called a “perverse...oil blockade,” in a subtle change of tone from a previous controversial address in February, where he announced severe austerity measures that the population needed to endure without a clear sense of future steps or timeline.

He said the government has not been able to import oil in the last three months, which has had a “tremendous” effect on the island. But he gave data about progress in the extraction of local crude and the generation of electricity by renewable sources.

Cuba’s leader admitted that the long blackouts has been a source of “discomfort” for the population, but unlike in previous statements, he fell short of blasting Cubans who have been protesting and banging pots and pans every night this week to complain about the blackouts.

“I regret that some people, amidst this unrest — which we acknowledge is legitimate — respond by insulting the revolution, the government and the electrical company,” he said. “The blame doesn’t lie with the government, nor with the revolution. The revolution, the government, and the workers are making an effort to overcome the impossible. The blame lies with the energy blockade that has been imposed upon us.”

He also blamed the cutoff of oil supplies by the United States for “tens of thousands of surgeries” that have not been able to be performed, even though pending surgeries had been piling up in recent years, and it was the Ministry of Health’s own decision to suspend non-emergency surgeries last month without a clear reason beyond stating that surgeries consume too much electricity.

Stating that the government was “sensitive” to the population’s needs, Dìaz-Canel also announced that a hundred out of 400 electric cars recently imported by the government will be used to transport patients needing dialysis. The Herald earlier reported that in provinces like Holguin, local authorities had informed patients they could not continue providing transportation due to the lack of fuel.

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—Miami Herald staff writer Syra Ortiz-Blanes contributed to this report.

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