President Trump insists on “Friendly takeover of Cuba!”
President Trump says “Marco Rubio is doing a great job”
Washington, Mar 9 (EFE).-
President Trump insisted on Monday on the possibility of his country opting for a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, at a time marked by the island’s woes due to the crude oil blockade imposed by Washington.
Trump stated at a press conference in Miami that US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is “doing a great job” in dealing with the situation in Cuba and added that “a friendly takeover” could occur.
“It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they’re down to, as they say, fumes. They have no energy. They have no money. They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis, and we don’t want to see that,” the Republican added.
“The Castro regime was brutal. But they lived off Venezuela. Now they don’t live off Venezuela,” affirmed the president. “Venezuela sends them no energy, no fuel, no oil, no money, no nothing. They live without Venezuela. They couldn’t have made it. And we cut them off from everything else. So, yeah, they’re going to make either a deal or we’ll do it just as easy anyway.”
After Washington overthrew former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January, the Trump administration cut off the crude oil supply that Caracas was sending to Havana. The administration also threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sends oil to the island. These developments have further harmed Cuba’s economy.
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly said that the Cuban government is about to collapse and has mentioned the possibility of carrying out a “friendly takeover.”
The president also highlighted on Monday that Rubio’s “great job” with Cuba, at a point that he “is going to go down as the greatest secretary in history,” and that both Havana and the American people trust him. EFE
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