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Donald Trump expects to have “the honour of taking Cuba”, he declared, after a US-imposed oil blockade plunged the country into darkness under a total power blackout.
The US president claimed on Monday that he could do “anything I want” with Cuba, amid US negotiations with Havana over the country’s future.
“You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.
“I do believe I’ll be … having the honour of taking Cuba,” Trump added. “Whether I free it, take it – think I could do anything I want with it. You want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now.”
Shortly after he spoke, the New York Times reported that US officials told Cuba to remove its president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, from power during recent talks, citing four unnamed sources familiar with the discussions.
The US has sought to intensify pressure on Cuba, its longtime foe, since seizing the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro – Cuba’s most important foreign benefactor – in January. Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened to put tariffs on any country that sold oil to Cuba, strangling its antiquated power grid.
Toppling Díaz-Canel from power would take out a key figurehead, while leaving in place the repressive Communist regime which has run Cuba for almost seven decades.
Cuba has traditionally rejected any interference in its internal affairs and has considered any proposals on that front to be a dealbreaker for any agreement.
Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state and son of Cuban immigrants, has long made it clear he wants regime change in Havana. Trump has also called for a “friendly takeover”, but recently told reporters: “It may not be a friendly takeover.”
Since removing Maduro from power in January and joining Israel in attacking Iran, Trump has openly mused that Cuba would be “next”.
Díaz-Canel, 65, who succeeded the late Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro as president in 2018, said on Friday that he expected talks with the US to take place “under the principles of equality and respect for the political systems of both countries, sovereignty and self-determination”.
with AFP and Reuters
