— Władze Kuby rozmawiają z nami. They are in huge trouble, as you know, they have no money, they have no oil, they have nothing now, but they are talking to us and maybe there will be a friendly takeover, Trump said during a conversation with reporters before leaving for Texas.
“After many, many years of dealing with them, there may be a friendly takeover. I have heard about Cuba since I was a little boy, but they have huge problems and I think we could do something good, very positive for the people who have been kicked out of there or those who have it even worse and who live there, he added.
Donald Trump emphasized that the talks on this matter are being conducted on behalf of the United States by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents emigrated from Cuba. Rubio was scheduled to meet Wednesday on the island of St. Kitts with Raul Castro's grandson.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US goal is to reach an agreement with some of the Cuban regime's elites to carry out a transformation on the island in a similar way to what happened in Venezuela, allied with Cuba. The US has been blocking oil supplies to the island for weeks, which has caused a humanitarian crisis. This week, however, the United States loosened the blockade, allowing the sale of Venezuelan oil to the private sector in Cuba.
The Miami Herald reported that the Trump administration intends to use dependence on gas supplies as a tool to influence Cuba.
