US President Donald Trump said “Cuba is next” on his list after the “successes” of military actions in Venezuela and Iran. He was speaking at the Saudi-backed FII Priority investment forum in Miami on Friday local time.
Trump quickly denied this, asking the media to “pretend I didn’t say that.”
He has not specified exactly what he plans to do with the island nation, but Trump has often said he believes the government in Havana is facing a serious economic crisis and is on the verge of collapse.
The Trump administration has opened negotiations with Cuba in recent weeks, according to Reuters. He himself has hinted several times that kinetic action is possible.
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What did Trump say on Friday?
“I built this great army. I said, ‘You’ll never have to use it.’ But sometimes you have to use it,” Trump said at the conference on Friday.
“And by the way, it’s Cuba’s turn!” Trump said. “But pretend I didn’t say that. Pretend I didn’t say that.”
“Please, please, please, media, ignore this statement. Thank you very much,” the US president said.
On Monday, Trump said he believed he would have the “honor” to take Cuba.
“I believe it will be an honor — to have the honor to take Cuba. That would be a good honor — that’s a great honor. I mean, whatever I liberate, I’ll take it. I think I can do whatever I want with it, you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
He said Cuba could be subject to a “friendly takeover,” adding, “It doesn’t have to be a friendly takeover.”
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Taking over Cuba?
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged that the island nation is in talks with the US, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, to avert a potential military confrontation, Reuters reported.
Earlier this week, Rubio said Cuba would collapse “on its own” and that Havana’s leaders “don’t know how to fix it.”
Cuba’s economy has been rocked by the interruption of oil imports, which it relies on to run power plants and transport. Venezuela provided much of Cuba’s oil needs before the January US operation to capture now-ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
The new government in Caracas, under pressure from Washington, ended these shipments.
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“Our army is ready”: Havana
Responding to Trump’s frequent warnings about taking power in Cuba, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío issued a strong warning to the United States, saying the island’s military was “ready.”
Carlos told NBC that he could not understand why America would strike the island, noting that their “army is always prepared. And in fact these days they are preparing for the possibility of military aggression.”
He said Cuba had always considered such a possibility remote and unlikely, but “it would be foolish not to remain prepared.”
Carlos also noted that Cuba’s economy had deteriorated sharply after the Trump administration captured Maduro, and accused Washington of pressuring other countries with “coercive measures” to prevent fuel supplies to the island.
