“Cuba is finished, will fail in short time”: Trump
While Trump joked with the Air Force One press en route to Joint Base Andrews that it didn’t bother him that countries were sending aid to Cuba, he pointed out that his administration would lend a helping hand to Cuban Americans who were expelled from Cuba under the regime of Fidel Castro, who presided over the Caribbean nation from 1959 to 2008.
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“Yes, Cuba will be next. Cuba will be next. Cuba is a complete mess. It is a failed country and they will be next. It will fail in a short time and we will be there to help. We will be there to help our great Cuban Americans who were kicked out of Cuba. In many cases their family members were maimed and killed by Castro. Yes, Cuba will be next. yes,” Trump said.
Asked about a report that the U.S. would allow a Russian oil tanker to go to Cuba, Trump said, “Well, we have a tanker there. We don’t mind someone taking a boatload of them because they need… they need to survive. Who would… that doesn’t bother me. I would say I told them if a country wants to send some oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with that.”
Asked if he was concerned that Moscow sending oil tankers to Cuba might help Putin, the US President said: “It doesn’t help him (Putin). He’s losing a boatload of oil, that’s all, that’s fine. If he wants to do it and other countries want to do it, that doesn’t bother me much. It won’t have any effect. Cuba is done, they have a bad regime, a very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether they should buy a boat or not.” Oil won’t matter. “Whether it’s Russia or someone else, I’d rather let the oil come in, because people need heat, cooling and everything else you need,” he said.
Also Read: Trump says White House ballroom is ahead of scheduleMeanwhile, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that former Cuban President Raul Castro was involved in the talks between the island and the United States, at a time when tensions between the two states were increasing. Diaz-Canel said on Wednesday that the talks were at an early stage as power outages continued across the country due to an oil blockade imposed by Trump, according to Al Jazeera.
The US Coast Guard has allowed a Russian tanker carrying crude oil to proceed towards Cuba, potentially easing the island’s worsening fuel crisis, The New York Times reported, citing a US official familiar with the matter.
According to the NYT, the tanker, reportedly owned by the Russian government, was carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of crude oil and was located just a few kilometers from Cuban territorial waters on Sunday evening, according to ship tracking data.
The ship is expected to arrive at the port of Matanzas on Monday night at its current speed.
