Donald Trump recently declared that “Cuba is next” in line following Iran in his “peace through strength” foreign policy agenda.
The former president made this statement at a Miami business forum backed by Saudi interests, though he later attempted to retract it with humor.
“I campaigned on the principle of peace through strength, asserting that you might never have to use it, but sometimes you have to,” Trump stated.
He was reflecting on his achievements, such as the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier in January, and his efforts to “protect our allies” in the Middle East.
“And Cuba’s next, by the way,” he added, prompting laughter from the audience, before requesting that the media refrain from reporting it.
“Let’s pretend I didn’t say that, okay? Please, media, please, please, disregard that statement. Thank you very much,” he pleaded.
But he then reiterated it to the audience: ‘Cuba’s next.’
The president has frequently suggested he’d go after Cuba soon, even suggesting he would ‘have the honor of taking Cuba’ a couple of weeks ago.
Donald Trump said that ‘Cuba is next’ following the war on Iran on his ‘peace through strength’ foreign policy plan
Activists wave Cuban and Palestinian flags from the vessel Maguro, arriving from Mexico with humanitarian aid as part of the ‘Nuestra America,’ or Our America Convoy, in Havana Bay, Cuba, Tuesday
Trump was joined at the event by his son Don Jr and his fiancée Bettina Anderson, as well as daughter Tiffany and her husband Michael Boulos.
He also shouted out advisors Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as well as FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
In late January, Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba as he pushes for a change in the island´s political model.
Although the initial threats were formally softened, the embargo has remained in place, and the island has not received any fuel shipments in the past three months.
Prolonged power outages and a near-paralysis of economic and social life are the visible consequences on the island, which in the last week experienced two nationwide blackouts that left millions without electricity as Cuba´s power grid continues to crumble.
The US has said that Cuba was in negotiations, and Trump has threatened that he would take over the island soon.
Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is involved in talks between the island and the United States, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Wednesday.
The talks, which Diaz-Canel said are in the early stages, come at a time of increasing tensions between the two nations, with Cuba plagued by nationwide blackouts resulting from a crumbling power grid and an ongoing oil blockade implemented by Trump.
The talks overall are being handled collectively by the Cuban government, Díaz-Canel told Spanish leftist leader Pablo Iglesias in a videotaped interview that lasted more than an hour and was shared by state media.
Though Diaz-Canel became president in 2018, 94-year-old revolutionary leader, brother of Fidel Castro, is still considered the most powerful person in the nation.
Iglesias was in Cuba as part of a delegation of some 600 activists from 33 countries who arrived last week to deliver humanitarian aid .
‘A process of conversations that leads to an agreement is a long process,’ Díaz-Canel told Iglesias, who produced the interview for his crowdfunded TV channel, Canal RED.
‘First, we must build a channel for dialogue. Then, we must build common agendas of interests for the parties, and the parties must demonstrate their intention to move forward and truly commit to the program based on the discussion of those agendas,’ Díaz-Canel said.
Francisco Pichón, resident coordinator of the United Nations in Cuba, warned that if the situation continued to spiral it could provoke a ‘humanitarian crisis’.
Pichón and other officials said it would require $94 million to address the island´s energy crisis and hurricane damage from last year.
The crippled energy grid was slated to cut off 96,000 people, around 11,000 of them children, from getting surgeries they need, and cause 30,000 minors to fall behind of their vaccine schedules, he estimated.
It’s already cut around a million people who depend on water deliveries from trucks, off from access to water.
The Un officials highlighted the desperate need for fuel to enter Cuba, but also solar power as a potential solution to keep schools and hospitals up and running and to pump water for irrigation.
‘If the current situation continues and the country´s fuel reserves are depleted, we do fear an accelerated deterioration with the possible loss of lives,’ said Francisco Pichón, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Cuba.
This is a developing story.
