Trump suggests 'friendly takeover' of Cuba
"The Cuban government is talking with us. They're in a big deal of trouble," said Mr Trump.
Donald Trump suggested the US could carry out a "friendly takeover" of Cuba on Friday, amid rising tensions between Havana and Washington.
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The suggestion comes just months after the US capture of Venezulaen leader, Nicholas Maduro, [in a covert US operation in the region].
As the US president left the White House to travel to a campaigning event in Texas on Friday, Trump suggested the island was politically struggling.
"The Cuban government is talking with us. They're in a big deal of trouble.
"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 gave no further details on the meaning of his comments.
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He added that the takeover could be "something good...very positive" for Cubans.
“You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba, and they’re very happy with what’s going on.”
It has been reported that US officials met with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro - grandson of 94-year-old former president Raúl Castro.
The meeting, which allegedly took place on the sidelines of the Caricom Caribbean leaders summit, is believed to have included negotiations on opening up the island.
The comments follow perhaps the most tense period of relations between the two nations in their bitter 67-year history, with pressure cranking up on Cuba following the US' successful abduction of Venezuelan president - and Cuban ally - Nicholas Maduro in January.
Pressure from Washington resulted in Venezuela's new leadership cutting off oil exports to Cuba - which, alongside the US oil blockage, is working to strangle the remainder of the Cuban economy.
Trump’s language may provoke worries among Cubans that he is planning to repeat history, as US financial domination of the Cuban economy was a main drivers of Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution.
The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has previously said that although his government is willing to talk, discussions could not involve Cuba’s internal affairs, and had to come “from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our self-determination”.