President Donald Trump revealed Friday that the U.S. is conducting high-level discussions with Cuban officials, suggesting the possibility of a 'friendly takeover' of the economically struggling island nation. The comments come amid ongoing tensions following a recent armed boat incident and Cuba's worsening financial crisis.
President Donald Trump disclosed on Friday that American officials are engaged in high-level diplomatic conversations with Cuba, floating the idea of what he termed a “friendly takeover” of the island nation, though he provided no specifics about his meaning.
While departing the White House for a Texas visit, Trump informed reporters that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been conducting discussions with Cuban officials “at a very high level.”
“The Cuban government is talking with us,” the president said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
He added: “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
Trump offered no clarification on his statements but appeared to suggest that circumstances involving Cuba, the communist-controlled nation that has remained one of America’s most hostile adversaries for generations, had reached a pivotal moment. White House officials did not provide additional details when asked Friday.
The president also characterized Cuba as “a failed nation” and stated “they want our help.”
These statements followed by two days Cuba’s report that a speedboat registered in Florida and carrying 10 armed Cubans from the United States fired upon soldiers along the island’s northern coastline. Cuban authorities said four of the armed individuals died and six sustained injuries from return fire, while one Cuban official was also wounded.
Cuba has occupied Trump’s attention since at least early January, following U.S. military operations that removed one of Havana’s key allies, Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolás Maduro. In the wake of that action, Trump indicated that military intervention in Cuba might be unnecessary since the island’s economy was sufficiently weakened — especially without Venezuelan oil deliveries that ceased after Maduro’s detention — to potentially collapse independently.
“We’ve had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. I’ve been hearing about Cuba since I’m a little boy. But they’re in big trouble,” he said Friday.
Referencing the Cuban exile population residing in America, Trump suggested something might develop that “I think (is) very positive for the people that were expelled, or worse, from Cuba and live here.” He offered no further explanation.
America has enforced a comprehensive trade embargo against Cuba since 1962, one year following the unsuccessful CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion. Despite this, Trump revealed earlier this month that discussions with Cuban representatives were in progress.
Cuban officials acknowledged this week that they were communicating with American authorities after the boat shooting incident. Rubio has stated that the Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard are examining what occurred.
A late January executive order signed by Trump committed to imposing tariffs on nations supplying oil to Cuba, potentially worsening conditions for a country already experiencing a severe energy shortage, although U.S. officials have since noted that Venezuelan oil can be sold to Cuban entities under certain circumstances.
Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, wrote on social media Friday that “the US maintains its fuel embargo against Cuba in full force, and its impact as a form of collective punishment is unwavering.”
“Nothing announced in recent days changes this reality,” he posted on X. “The possibility of conditional sales to the private sector already existed and does not alleviate the impact on the Cuban population.”
Simultaneously, more than 40 American civil society groups delivered a letter to Congress Friday urging lawmakers to “press the Trump administration to reverse its aggressive policy towards Cuba” and warning that attempts to halt oil deliveries to the Caribbean nation would trigger a humanitarian disaster.
Organizations signing the letter included the Alliance of Baptists, ActionAid USA and the Presbyterian Church.
“Policies that deliberately impose hunger and mass hardship on millions of civilians constitute a form of collective punishment, and as such are a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” the letter states.