MIAMI – Before heading off to Corpus Christi, Texas, to hit the campaign trail ahead of an all-important Senate primary race, President Trump spoke to reporters on the White House lawn on Friday and hinted at a possible “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
The administration’s subtle squeeze on Cuba comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with grandson to Raúl Castro on the sidelines of a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) conference in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts on Wednesday.
The grandson to Raúl Castro, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, also known as “El Cangrejo,” is believed by the U.S. intelligence community to be overseeing Cuba’s state-run military-commercial conglomerate, GAESA, and could be Washington’s ‘inside man’ to quietly take over control of Havana and transfer the reins of government from Cuba’s revolutionary old-guard to the island’s younger generation to potentially revitalize the Caribbean nation’s interests with more positive relations with the U.S.
Tensions between the United States and Cuba have escalated in recent weeks as Washington tightens an oil blockade around the island to pressure the regime to begin implementing democratic reforms in the failed island-state.
A major international incident also absorbed recent headlines in Cuba and the United States this week after a group of Cuban dissidents residing in the United States reportedly stole a vessel in the Florida Keys and traveled within one mile off the coast of Cuba, armed with machine guns and other weaponry in an attempt to “carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,” according to the Cuban interior ministry.”
The group was eventually met by Cuban coast guards when four on board the Florida-registered vessel were killed in a firefight.
Cuban authorities confirmed that the U.S. government is cooperating on an investigation into the matter.
When asked by reporters of recent events in Cuba on Friday, President Trump stated:
“Perhaps we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. Right now, it’s, to put it mildly, a failed nation. They have no money, no oil, no food.”
President Trump added, “They [Cuba] want our help,” adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “is handling it at the highest level.”
