Speaking to reporters on Monday night, President Trump boasted of his his ramped up embargo on Cuba, which has involved cutting off Venezuelan oil shipments and pressuring Mexico to end its oil exports, causing major fuel shortages in the country.
“Cuba is right now a failed nation, and they don’t even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off, clogging up their runway,” he said during a flight on Air Force One.
Trump said his administration was talking with the Cuban government, though, according to a report from Drop Site News, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is blocking those talks while telling the president they are happening.
A source in the administration told Drop Site that the idea is for Rubio to be able to say in a few months that diplomacy with the Cuban government is futile and push for the US to pursue regime change.
“We’re talking to Cuba right now, we have Marco Rubio talking to Cuba right now,” Trump said on Monday night. “But they should absolutely make a deal because it’s really a humanitarian threat.”
Even if diplomatic talks were taking place, it’s unclear what sort of agreement the US wants, as Trump has not spelled out his demands of Havana. The president told reporters that as long as a deal isn’t reached, the embargo will continue. “In the meantime, there’s an embargo. There’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything,” he said.
Responding to Trump’s comments, a Cuban official pointed out that US officials typically deny the humanitarian damage that US sanctions cause. “It is frequent for US officials and diplomats to claim that US aggression is not responsible for difficulties in Cuba, It seems they don’t listen to their President, including the chief diplomat in Havana,” Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos F. de Cossio wrote on X.
Trump was asked if he would consider carrying out an operation in Cuba similar to the attack on Venezuela, which resulted in the US kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro. “I don’t want to answer that. Why would I answer that if I was? It wouldn’t be a very tough operation, as you can figure, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” he said.
