US-Cuba Talks Underway as Trump Hints at Takeover Bid
Speaking to reporters Friday as he departed the White House, Trump confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is engaged in high-level talks with the Cuban government.
"The Cuban government is talking with us," the president said. "They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they're talking with us and maybe we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba."
Trump offered no further detail on what a "friendly takeover" would mean in practice. The remarks arrive against a backdrop of dramatically deteriorating US-Cuba relations, accelerated by the US military's seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — a crucial Cuban ally — in January. That operation has since triggered an aggressive Washington-led economic campaign against Havana, with pressure applied to Venezuela's new acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, to sever oil exports to the island — a move that has deepened Cuba's already severe fuel and food crisis.
Trump has also publicly mused that capturing Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel in a raid modeled on the Caracas operation "wouldn't be very tough" for the Pentagon. Meanwhile, US officials including Secretary Rubio are reportedly courting Raul Castro's grandson, Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, as part of a calculated strategy to cultivate younger, business-oriented Cubans who could erode internal resistance to American influence.
The provocative signals from Washington come just days after a deadly maritime confrontation between the Cuban coast guard and armed men aboard a vessel allegedly stolen from Florida — a shootout that left four people dead and further inflamed bilateral tensions. Havana has squarely blamed Washington for failing to rein in exile militant groups operating on US soil.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossío framed the incident in stark historical terms, stating it was part of a 60-year pattern of "attacks and countless terrorist acts... organized, financed, and carried out from the territory of the United States."
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