Trump Says He Sees Potential ‘Pleasant Takeover of Cuba’

US President Donald Trump suggested a possible “friendly takeover of Cuba” as the White House looks to leverage the Communist-run island’s energy crisis to exert greater influence.

“They’re in big trouble, and we could very well do something good, I think, very positive for the people that were expelled, or worse, from Cuba that live here,” Trump told reporters Friday as he departed the White House for Texas. “You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba.” 

“We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,” he added.

Trump’s comments are some of his most fulsome yet on his plans for the Cuba, which has been under severe pressure from the US.

Earlier this week, the administration announced plans to allow fuel shipments from American energy companies to private Cuban businesses. The strategy is intended to both make Cuba more reliant on the US and help boost the island’s private sector while undermining its Communist government.

Cuba’s government has been under particular duress after the US’s raid to capture Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. Since then the Trump administration has pressured the interim government in Caracas to break its longtime partnership with Cuba, urging it to stop exporting oil there.

Trump said Cuba was “to put it mildly, a failing nation” and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was working to exert influence over the government to advance US interests.

“They have no money, they have no oil, they have no food,” Trump said.

Trump’s comments come just days after a shootout between Cuba’s coast guard and a group of Cubans living in the US who traveled aboard a Florida-registered speedboat to the island’s coastline. The Cuban government has accused the men of attempting to mount an insurrection, which it said prompted the deadly firefight. US officials have said that further investigation was necessary to determine what happened.

With assistance from Eric Martin.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.