HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Wednesday that the communist country dealing with over six decades of United States (US) sanctions was “prepared” for “more difficult circumstances” under President-elect Donald Trump.

Cuba was also ready for “dialogue” with the new administration, Diaz-Canel said in his first reaction to Trump’s November 5 election victory.

Trump’s first presidential term from 2017 to 2021 saw a tightening of sanctions in place against Cuba since 1962.

After a brief period of US-Cuban detente under Barack Obama, Trump also placed Havana back on a list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Trump has nominated Senator Marco Rubio, highly critical of communism and the left at large, to serve as his secretary of state.

Diaz-Canel, in comments on state television, said the US election outcome had been “a probable scenario” for which his country was “prepared.”

And while insisting Cuba would not accept “interference of any kind,” he said: “We are willing to dialogue on an equal footing with the US government.”

The Cuban government blames US sanctions for the island nation’s worst economic crisis, with shortages of fuel, food, medicines and electricity.

The hardship has led to unprecedented anti-government protests, with hundreds of dissenters behind bars since mass demonstrations in July 2021, according to rights groups.

Analysts say the Covid-19 pandemic, which tanked tourism, and economic mismanagement by the government have contributed greatly to the state of the economy.

Diaz-Canel on Wednesday described the sanctions as “genocidal” and underlined that incumbent President Joe Biden had done little to reverse Trump’s punitive measures against Cuba.