President Donald Trump’s government warned Cuba’s communist regime this Wednesday (18) to promote urgent structural changes in the face of the crisis facing the island.
At a press conference at the White House, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that Washington expects significant transformations to occur in Havana in the coming months and reiterated that the United States defends the consolidation of democracy on the island, which currently lives under communist rule. Leavitt referred to the communist dictatorship in power in Cuba as “a regime that is falling.”
“The country is falling apart and we believe it is in their interest to make very drastic changes very soon,” the spokeswoman said.
Leavitt said the US supports a democratic transition on the island.
“Obviously we want to see flourishing and prosperous democracies around the world, especially in our own hemisphere,” he said, adding that “I’m not dictating any action we can take to achieve that, but, of course, what’s best for the United States is for Cuba to be a truly free and prosperous democracy.”
The statements come in the context of an escalation of US economic pressure against Havana. At the end of January, Trump signed a decree that created a mechanism for additional tariffs on imports from countries that supply crude oil or derivatives to Cuba, with the aim of restricting the flow of energy to the island, which is suffering from blackouts.
Cuba is currently facing one of the most delicate economic situations in recent decades, worsened by the reduction in Venezuelan oil supplies following the capture of Nicolás Maduro in January.
This Wednesday, the Axios portal reported, citing three anonymous official sources, that the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is holding private conversations with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, grandson of Raúl Castro, bypassing traditional diplomatic channels with the Cuban regime. There was no official public confirmation about the content of these conversations.
