WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday suggested a “friendly takeover” of communist-led Cuba, with tensions high between Washington and Havana in the wake of the US toppling of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration has imposed a strict oil embargo on Cuba since ousting Havana’s key regional backer, bringing the island nation to the brink of economic collapse.
“They have no money, they have no anything right now. But they’re talking with us and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Friday.
“The Cuban government is talking with us, and they’re in a big deal of trouble,” he said.
Cuba has been under a US trade embargo since shortly after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Relations thawed in recent years but have plunged again since Trump took office for his second term, with the US president seeking to tighten Washington’s grip on Latin America.
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