US President Donald Trump has reiterated his belief that socialist Cuba is on the verge of collapse.
“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way,” he said in a telephone interview with the US broadcaster CNN on Friday, as he praised the military successes of the United States during his second term.
Trump also claimed that Havana wants an agreement: “They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put [Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years.”
Not first time Trump has made claim
The president’s statements are not new. Already at the end of January, he said, “Cuba is really a nation that’s very close to failing.”
He asserted that the Caribbean state had received its money and oil from Venezuela, but after the intervention by the US, this is no longer possible. US forces had taken control of several oil tankers.
Previously, Trump had announced that he would impose a “total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Trump has also previously announced a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. However, neither the annexation nor the collapse of the country has occurred so far, with or without the involvement of the US.
Relations between Havana and Washington have been strained for decades. Currently, the authoritarian-ruled Caribbean island is in its worst economic crisis since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959.
Among other things, there is a shortage of fuel. If the US were to permanently block oil supplies from Venezuela, the Cuban economy could completely collapse.