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US President Donald Trump has said that Cuba is next in line for a possible US military operation as he touted the success of the campaigns he led in Venezuela and Iran.
“I built this great military. 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 a foreign investment summit in Miami on Friday.
Although the president has not shared the exact details of how his military plans to go about Cuba, he has frequently said he believes the government in Havana, facing a severe economic crisis, is on the verge of collapse.
US-Cuba talks
The US and Cuba are engaging in talks as tensions remain high between the two countries. Trump has placed a de facto oil blockade on the island country, forcing the Communist Party to the negotiating table.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has insisted the talks take place “on the basis of equality” and mutual respect, but Trump has issued a series of threatening statements, including that he can do “anything I want” with Cuba, a sovereign neighbour.
Sources within the Trump administration have said that both countries could come up with a deal. The New York Times, citing four people familiar with the talks, said Washington was seeking to push Diaz-Canel from power. In exchange, the US might ease sanctions and refrain from taking any action against the Castro family.
The US proposal would leave untouched the family of former presidents Fidel and Raul Castro. Fidel Castro died in 2016, but Raul Castro, 94, remains highly influential eight years after handing the presidency over to Diaz-Canel, 65.
Quick Reads
View AllSuch a deal would resemble what has happened in Venezuela, where the United States deposed President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Rather than attempt to install an opposition government, the US has cooperated with acting President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president who took power when US forces whisked away Maduro in an early morning raid.
With inputs from agencies
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