Havana — The Trump administration made it clear on Tuesday that the US sees Cuba as the next country to demonstrate its ambitions on the world stage.
“Cuba is in very bad shape right now,” President Donald Trump said a day after Cuba’s third nationwide blackout in four months as the socialist island’s economy suffers under US sanctions.
“And we’re going to do something with Cuba very soon,” the president added.
The Trump administration is looking for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to leave as the U.S. continues to negotiate with the Cuban government, according to a U.S. official and sources familiar with negotiations between Washington and Havana. No details have been given on who the administration wants to take over.
Unlike revolutionary founding father Raul Castro and his family, many Cubans do not believe that Diaz-Canel holds much power in Cuba.
Power was slowly being restored to hospitals and some homes on Tuesday afternoon, but officials warned that the crumbling power grid could fail again.
The government blames its woes on the US energy embargo after Trump warned in January of tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
Marco Rubio, secretary of state for Cuban heritage, said the island “has a political and governmental system that doesn’t work and an economy. They can’t fix it.”
A Cuban official said Monday that Cuba is open to trade with U.S. companies, but such promises have been made before.
“So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said. “What they announced yesterday was not dramatic enough. It’s not going to be fixed.”
The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
Although Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and produces its own energy, it is not enough to meet demand as its electricity grid is crumbling.
Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said in X that the island had restored power to the western town of Pinar del Rio and the southeastern province of Holguin, and that some “microsystems” had begun operating in various areas.
By late Monday, state-owned media reported that power had been restored to 5% of residents in the capital, Havana, representing about 42,000 customers.
City dwellers are concerned about food spoilage and trying to simply exercise in homes without lights.
“The power cuts are driving me crazy,” said 48-year-old Dalba Obido. “Last night I fell down a 27-step flight of stairs. Now I need surgery on my jaw. I fell because the lights went out.”
Havana resident Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, 61, said the relentless stops make Cubans think they should just pack up and leave the island. “The less we eat the perishables,” he said. “Our people are too old to sustain grief.”
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Seung Min Kim and Amar Madhani contributed from Washington.
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