Trump says U.S. discussing ‘friendly takeover’ of Cuba

Latin America expert John Kirk on how the fatal speedboat shooting off Cuba’s coast could have diplomatic repercussions with the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday suggested a “friendly takeover” of communist-led Cuba, with tensions high between Washington and Havana in the wake of the U.S. toppling of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.

The Trump administration has imposed a strict oil embargo on Cuba since ousting Havana’s key regional backer, bringing the island nation to the brink of economic collapse.

“They have no money, they have no anything right now. But they’re talking with us and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Friday.

“The Cuban government is talking with us, and they’re in a big deal of trouble,” he said.

Cuba has been under a U.S. trade embargo since shortly after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. Relations thawed in recent years but have plunged again since Trump took office for his second term, with the U.S. president seeking to tighten Washington’s grip on Latin America.

On Wednesday, the Cuban Coast Guard said it had killed four people and wounded six others on board a U.S.-registered speedboat that it said were armed and seeking to infiltrate the country.

Havana said all those on board the U.S. boat were Cubans living in the United States, which has received several waves of emigration from the island since the 1960s.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed only that one U.S. citizen was killed and another wounded in the incident.

Cuban authorities said a coast guard vessel came under fire from the speedboat around one nautical mile from Cuba’s north shore, adding that assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails and military-style gear were found onboard.

The response from the United States government was muted.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was on a Caribbean visit, said that Washington was conducting its own investigation and would “respond accordingly.”