Trump To ‘Force’ Tensions With Cuba Until He Reaches Goals

Donald Trump will force the situation in Cuba until he gets what he wants, according to a BBC reporter.

The US president and his secretary of state Marco Rubio have repeatedly threatened to use military action against the Central American country unless there is substantial regime change.

Rubio has accused Cuba of being a national security threat for years because of its links to American opponents.

The administration recently announced criminal charges against the island’s former leader Raul Castro, too, on a murder charge related to the downing of planes in 1996.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something. And it looks like I’ll be the one that does it. So I would be happy to do it.”

Rubio, America’s top diplomat, claimed the Trump administration wants to resolve its conflicts with the US peacefully.

But he added: “I’m just being honest with you, you know, the likelihood of that happening, given who we’re dealing with right now, is not high.”

Will Grant, Mexico, Central America and Cuba correspondent, told the Radio 4 Today programme the White House’s interest is increasing because the Trump administration “feels they can achieve something that no other administration has been able to achieve when it comes to Cuba, and that is regime change”.

The White House sees “nothing less than wholesale economic political change as necessary, they are going to force this situation until they get what they want either via negotiation or with the spectre of military action,” the specialist added.

He pointed out that there were growing fears about just what the US might do next, especially after Trump acted on his threats against Venezuela.

“It was only in January we saw the removal of Nicolas Maduro from power in Venezuela with [American] military action,” Grant said.

“In the wake of that, the oil was switched off to Cuba.

“The situation has become worse and worse and worse with each passing week.”

Rubio, who has Cuban heritage, has taken a particularly hard line against the island.

“He’s not going to be convinced by small changes from the Cuban government that might have been offered,” Grant said.

“He is seemingly growing impatient and is demanding root and branch reform, which the Cuban government doesn’t seem to be keen on having dictated its direction of government dictated to it by Washington.”

He added: “Cuban people are growing increasingly fearful that military action of some kind is on the horizon.”

Cuban minister of foreign affairs Bruno Rodriguez hit back at the threats on social media: “The US Secretary of State lies once again to instgate a military aggression that would provoke the shedding of Cuban and American blood.

“Cuba is not, nor has it ever been, a threat to the national security of the United States. It is the US government that ruthlessly and systematically aggresses the Cuban people and that, in recent months, has engaged in provoking desperation among the population and the collapse of the economy by prohibiting fuel imports and reinforcing the extraterritorial nature of the blockade.”

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