Rubio says Cuba ‘needs to put new people in charge’ as US ratchets up pressure | Donald Trump news

Washington continues to block fuel to the island nation because Trump is ‘going to do something with Cuba soon’.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Cuba needs “new people in charge” and the administration of US President Donald Trump continues to pressure the island nation.

Cuba has an economy that “doesn’t work in a political and governmental system,” Rubio commented Tuesday during an Oval Office event.

He spoke of the US continuing to impose a de facto energy embargo on Cuba following the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The threat of sanctions against any country that delivers fuel to the island has exacerbated years of economic crisis and humanitarian devastation.

Rubio said Cuba’s decision this week to allow citizens living in exile to invest in the country and own businesses did not go far enough.

“They announced yesterday that it wasn’t dramatic enough. It’s not going to be fixed. So they’ve got some big decisions to make,” he said.

Rubio said Cuba has survived “on subsidies” since the Cuban Revolution in the 1950s, adding that “the people in charge don’t know how to fix it.”

“So they have to charge new people,” he said.

Trump floats imminent action

For his part, Trump, who said Monday he could “take” Cuba, and previously floated a “friendly takeover” of the country, said Tuesday that new action was imminent.

“We’re going to do something with Cuba soon,” he said.

Last week, the US and Cuba announced that they had entered into negotiations to end the pressure campaign.

Several US media outlets have reported that the Trump administration is calling for President Miguel Diaz-Canel to step down, although no details have emerged about his potential replacement.

The US maintains a decades-old trade embargo against Cuba and its communist government.

On Monday, a national blackout underscored the dire situation on the island, where periodic blackouts have long been common.

By early Tuesday, power had been restored to two-thirds of the country, including 45 percent of the capital, Havana, home to 1.7 million people.