- Trump suggests Cuba is on the brink of collapse amid economic crisis.
- He says that the US is opening talks with Cuban leaders to avoid an escalation.
- Suggestions force an option, saying “sometimes you have to use it.”
US President Donald Trump said Friday that “Cuba is next” during a speech at an investment forum in Miami, during which he highlighted the successes of US military action in Venezuela and Iran.
While the president did not specify what exactly he plans to do with the island nation, he has frequently said that he believes the government in Havana, which is facing a serious economic crisis, is on the brink of collapse.
His administration has entered negotiations with elements of the Cuban leadership in recent weeks, while Trump himself has hinted that kinetic action could be possible.
“I built this great army. I said, 'You'll never have to use it.' But sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is next, by the way,” Trump said at the conference on Friday.
“But pretend I didn't say that. Pretend I didn't say that.”
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged that the country is in talks with the United States in an attempt to avoid a possible military confrontation. Cuba's economy has been hit by disruptions to imports of oil, which it depends on to run power plants and transportation.
Before the US operation to capture now-ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January, Venezuela had provided much of Cuba's oil needs, but the new government in Caracas, under pressure from Washington, ended those shipments.
In early March, Trump had said Cuba could be subject to a “friendly takeover,” before adding: “It may not be a friendly takeover.”
