Trump says regime change in Cuba may be 'friendly takeover' or not

DORAL, FL – President Donald Trump said Cuba would have to make a deal in a “friendly takeover” or face an unfriendly takeover of its communist regime.

“It may be a friendly takeover, it may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they’re really, they’re down to, as I say, fumes,” Trump said on March 9. “They have no energy. They have no money. They’re in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis.”

His comments came at a news conference focused largely on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that began Feb. 28 and came after the U.S. military removed Venezuela’s president on Jan. 3.

Trump argued that Cuba had depended for decades on Venezuela’s aid, which has run dry after the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro to face narco-terrorism and trafficking charges. Delcy Rodriguez, who succeeded Maduro, has been cooperating with the United States and not sending aid to Cuba.

“Venezuela sends them no energy, no fuel, no oil, no money, no nothing,” Trump said. “Without Venezuela, they couldn’t have made it. We cut them off from everything else. So yeah, they’re going to make either a deal or we’ll do it just as easy anyway.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents immigrated from Cuba, has been negotiating with Cuba’s leadership to avoid a military confrontation.

The details of the deal, which could cover ports, energy, and tourism, are not known, but could include a relaxation of restrictions on Americans traveling to the Caribbean island.

Discussions have included an off-ramp for President Miguel Díaz-Canel and for members of the Castro family who ruled Cuba for decades to remain on the island. The U.S. government has floated the idea of lifting some sanctions.

After the news conference at Trump National Doral, the president stopped at El Arepazo restaurant in a Venezuelan neighborhood nearby. He was introduced to an 87-year-old man who said he wanted to travel to a free Cuba with Trump.

“We’ll go to Cuba together,” Trump said.