U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday pledged imminent motion against Cuba’s socialist government as his moves against the island bring the U.S.’ longtime opponent deeper into crisis.
A day after Trump’s sanctions on Venezuela, including a stop to vital oil exports to Cuba, contributed to Cuba’s latest nationwide blackout, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio each said that the administration sees the island nation as the subsequent country where the U.S. can expand its influence.
“Cuba straight away is in very bad shape,” Trump said.
“And we’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon,” he added.
Until recently, Trump’s comments on change in Cuba might need been considered remarkable. But they arrive after his administration’s military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and the launch of U.S. military strikes against Iran.
U.S. sanctions and economic pressure have exasperated the misery many Cubans are experiencing.
Pedro Rámos, a 75-year-old retired mechanic who shares a modest apartment in Old Havana together with his wife, was boiling three pieces of chicken in an attempt to save lots of them from spoiling with the ability out.
“I would like to see if we are able to rescue some food,” he said. “Two people older than 70 live here. … That is terrible.”
The Trump administration is on the lookout for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to depart because the U.S. continues negotiating with the Cuban government, based on a U.S. official and a source with knowledge of talks between Washington and Havana. No detail has been offered about who the administration might wish to see come to power.
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Many Cubans don’t imagine that Díaz-Canel holds much power in Cuba, anyway, versus revolutionary founding father Raúl Castro and his family.
With little reliable information trickling out of Havana or Washington, experts are watching closely for clues about what’s within the works.
“Some pieces of this story as they’re trickling out, don’t add as much as me,” said Michael Bustamante, a Cuba expert and associate professor of history on the University of Miami. “I can’t quite determine what the top game is here for either side.”
Electricity was slowly being restored to hospitals and a few homes Tuesday afternoon, but officials warned that the crumbling power network could fail again.
The federal government blames its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Rubio, who’s of Cuban heritage, said the island “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They will’t fix it.”
A Cuban official said Monday that Cuba is open to trading with U.S. corporations, but such guarantees have been made before.
“So that they must change dramatically,” Rubio said. “What they announced yesterday shouldn’t be dramatic enough. It’s not going to repair it.”
The Trump administration can be demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the opportunity of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to fulfill demand as its aging electric grid continues to crumble.
Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said on X that the island had restored the electrical system within the western town of Pinar del Rio and the southeastern province of Holguin and that some “microsystems” were starting to operate in various territories.
State-owned media reported that by late Monday power had been restored to five% of residents within the capital, Havana, representing some 42,000 customers.
Town’s residents are concerned about food spoiling and easily attempting to maneuver in homes with no lighting.
“The ability outages are driving me crazy,” said 48-year-old Dalba Obiedo. “Last night I fell down a 27-step staircase. Now I even have to have surgery on my jaw. I fell since the lights went out.”
Havana resident Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, 61, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island. “What little we now have to eat spoils,” he said. “Our persons are too old to maintain suffering.”
Seung Min Kim, Aamer Madhani and Will Weissert contributed from Washington.
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