The President of the United States, Donald Trump, defended American pressure on Cuba, ruled out for now a military action similar to that in Venezuela and anticipated that Cuban-Americans “will be happy when they can return” to the island and reunite with their families.
“We’re talking to Cuba right now. Marco Rubio is talking to Cuba right now, and they should come to an agreement, because it’s… really a humanitarian threat,” Trump told reporters aboard the presidential plane.
Trump stressed that Cuba is “a bankrupt nation”, lamented that “they don’t have fuel for planes to take off and they are piling up on the runways”. He defended that “there is no oil, there is no money, there is nothing” flowing to Cuba, in reference to US sanctions on countries that sell or supply oil to the Caribbean country.
Military operation “would not be difficult”
“I’m very interested in the people who are here, who were very mistreated by (the) Castro regime and by the Cuban authorities, who treated them in a horrible way. We’ll see how it all ends, but we’re talking to Cuba,” he declared.
Asked if he would consider ordering a military operation like the one that led to the capture of the president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Trump said that “it would not be a very difficult operation” and said “he does not believe that it is necessary”.
Since mid-2024, Cuba has been going through a deep energy crisis, which has worsened since January due to greater difficulties in accessing fuel and the latest blockade of Venezuelan oil to the island ordered by Trump. There are frequent blackouts and even essential services, such as garbage collection, are paralyzed due to lack of fuel.
SEE ALSO:
- Opposition leader predicts fall of regimes in Cuba and Nicaragua after transition in Venezuela
- Plunged into darkness, Cuba faces an unprecedented crisis amid the politics of suffocation
