President Trump on Monday said he believes he will have the “honor” of taking over Cuba, coming as the administration is choking the communist regime in Havana with a fuel blockade.
Trump, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, would not rule out a military move, adding, “I think I can do anything I want with it.”
“Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it,” he said. “You want to know the truth, they’re a very weakened nation now.”
The island nation plunged into darkness on Monday, with a major blackout affecting 11 million people. Trump imposed an oil quarantine against the island at the end of January, cutting off its main supply of oil from Venezuela.
Experts warned that the country only had enough fuel reserves to last until mid-March and that the quarantine exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis caused by decades of mismanagement and corruption by the communist regime in Havana.
Trump is trying to pressure Cuba’s President Manuel Diaz-Canal into an agreement with the U.S., but has provided little detail on the potential terms of such an agreement.
“It’s a failed nation,” Trump said Monday. “They have no money, no oil, no nothing, they have nice land, nice landscape, it’s a beautiful island.”
Lawmakers hawkish on Cuba want to see a transition to Democracy and are cheering on the regime’s downfall. Protests on the island against the government are intensifying.
But the administration is signaling that economic agreements could unlock relief for the island. Deals on ports, energy and tourism could unlock sanctions relief, USA Today reported earlier this month. The report also said the administration is looking to relax restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba, and an off-ramp for the communist leadership to remain on the island.
Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Cuba’s deputy prime minister, told NBC News on Monday that Cuba is “open to having a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies” and “also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.”
