Tensions between Washington and Havana have escalated since the US military attack on Venezuela
US President Donald Trump has indicated that the United States may undertake “Friendly Possession of Cuba” The island nation’s government claims it is on the brink of collapse and is actively negotiating with Washington.
Speaking to reporters on his way out of the White House on Friday, Trump said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had engaged in high-level discussions with the Cuban government.
“The Cuban government is talking to us.” The president said. “They don’t have money. They don’t have anything now. But they’re talking to us and maybe we’ll get a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
The president did not explain what “Friendly Possession” includes Relations between the two countries have sunk to a new low since the US military successfully kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a key ally of Cuba, in January.
Since that operation, Washington has aggressively tightened its economic grip on Cuba, pressuring Venezuela’s new acting president, Delsey Rodriguez, to cut oil exports to the island. The move strangled Cuba’s already struggling economy, exacerbating severe fuel and food shortages.
Trump recently boasted that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel had been captured, similar to the attack in Caracas. “Not too hard” For the Pentagon.
Furthermore, reports have emerged that US officials, including Secretary Rubio, are courting Raul Castro’s grandson, Raul Guillermo RodrÃguez Castro, seeing the younger, business-minded Cuban as a potential partner to undermine internal opposition to American influence.
The saber-rattling from Washington comes just days after a deadly shootout at sea between Cuban coastguards and gunmen aboard a boat stolen from Florida. The incident, which left four dead, has further fueled tensions; Cuba accuses the US of failing to curb the extremism of exiled groups on American soil who are trying to topple the government in Havana.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio said the incident was not isolated but part of a 60-year pattern. “The attacks and countless acts of terrorism … were organized, financed and carried out from the territory of the United States.”
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