President Donald Trump said Cuba is nearing political change and suggested Secretary of State Marco Rubio could be tasked with negotiating a potential deal with the island nation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said Cuba could be approaching major political change and suggested that Secretary of State Marco Rubio may soon play a role in negotiations with the island nation.
According to remarks recounted in an interview with journalist Dana Bash, Trump said the Cuban government is eager to reach an agreement with the United States and indicated he may send Rubio to help negotiate.
“Cuba is going to fall pretty soon, by the way. Cuba is going to fall too,” Trump said during the conversation, which Bash summarized in coverage published by CNN.
“They want to make a deal so badly. They want to make a deal. And so I’m going to put Marco over there, and we’ll see how that works out,” Bash said the president told her.
Trump added that the moment had been long anticipated.
“Cuba is ready after 50 years,” he said.
In the same discussion, Trump suggested the current geopolitical environment has created an opportunity for change in Cuba.
“I’ve been watching it for 50 years, and it’s fallen right into my lap because of me, it’s fallen, but it’s nevertheless fallen right into the lap. And we’re doing very well,” Trump said, according to the interview summary published by CNN.
Trump also referenced Cuba during remarks at the White House a day earlier, indicating the issue could become a focus of the administration once other international matters are addressed.
“He’s doing some job, and your next one is going to be, we want to do that special Cuba,” Trump said, referring to Rubio’s role as secretary of state. “He’s waiting. But he says, ‘Let’s get this one finished first.’ We could do them all at the same time, but bad things happen. If you watch countries over the years, you do them all too fast, bad things happen. We’re not going to let anything bad happen to this country.”
The president has previously taken economic actions against Cuba, including implementing an oil embargo and threatening tariffs on countries that provide oil shipments to the island through an executive order.
The comments follow earlier remarks in which Trump suggested the United States could eventually pursue what he described as a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.
The conversation with Bash covered several topics, including U.S. policy toward Iran, energy prices and domestic politics, including the Texas Senate runoff election between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Separately, the U.S. Southern Command announced new cooperative operations with the Ecuadorian military targeting narcotics trafficking and organized criminal groups in South America.
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