US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to “take” Cuba as the communist island plunged into darkness under a total power blackout linked to a crippling oil embargo imposed by Washington.<\/p>\n
After nearly seven decades defying the United States, Havana’s communist authorities are under massive pressure from a Trump administration determined to make history.<\/p>\n
“You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?” Trump told reporters at the White House.<\/p>\n
“I do believe I’ll be…having the honor of taking Cuba,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
“Whether I free it, take it — think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now.”<\/p>\n
It was one of Trump’s most explicit threats and came as the Caribbean island of 9.6 million people grappled with yet another major power cut.<\/p>\n
The blackout resulted from a “complete shutdown of the national grid,” Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore electricity flow.<\/p>\n
Cuba’s aging electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island.<\/p>\n
But since the US ouster of Cuba’s top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3, the island’s economy has been hammered further as Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade.<\/p>\n
No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.<\/p>\n
In a bid to relieve economic pressure — and meet US demands — a senior economic official in Cuba announced Monday that Cuban exiles would now be able to invest and own businesses there.<\/p>\n
“Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies” and “also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants,” Oscar Perez-Oliva, who is foreign trade minister and also deputy prime minister, told NBC News.<\/p>\n
The New York Times reported Monday, relying on anonymous sources, that Trump administration officials have signaled to Cuban officials that the US wants President Miguel Diaz-Canel to be removed from power.<\/p>\n
– Popular unrest –<\/p>\n
The blackouts, as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics, are spurring frustrations. In a rare moment of violence, demonstrators vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend.<\/p>\n
It was part of a new trend of protests in which people bang pots and pans at night, at times yelling “Libertad,” or freedom.<\/p>\n
Fourteen people have been arrested after the office assault in Moron, a town of around 70,000 people east of Havana, the regional party chief told state-run newspaper Invasor.<\/p>\n
The violence prompted Diaz-Canel to acknowledge in an X post “the discontent our people feel because of the prolonged blackouts”, including a major outage in early March.<\/p>\n
“What will never be comprehensible, justified or admitted is violence,” Diaz-Canel said.<\/p>\n
The government has also rationed gasoline sales and some hospital services due to the fuel shortages.<\/p>\n
Diaz-Canel confirmed last week that his government had held talks with the United States.<\/p>\n
Trump has alleged the fuel blockade is a response to an “extraordinary threat” posed by Cuba to the United States.<\/p>\n
Trump said Sunday that Cuba “wants to make a “deal”, which could come quickly after his administration has finished the war against Iran.<\/p>\n
“I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.<\/p>\n
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