Trump wants to overthrow Cuban regime 'in a couple of weeks' - The Times

President Trump has threatened to overthrow the communist government in Cuba but said he wanted to wait “a couple of weeks” after military interventions in Venezuela and Iran.

Cuba is experiencing economic turmoil caused by a US blockade in the Caribbean and the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has passed emergency measures to loosen restrictions on the private sector amid food shortages and power blackouts.

At a White House ceremony for Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer champions, Trump said Cuban-Americans would soon be “celebrating” the fall of communism in Cuba.

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Flanked by Latin American players including Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez, Trump promised Jorge Mas, the club’s Cuban-American co-owner, that he would soon be able to “fly back in” to Havana.

“You’re going to go back. And you won’t need my approval, you’ll just fly back in. It’s going to be a great day,” he said. “I just want to wait a couple of weeks. But we’ll be together again soon I suspect, celebrating what’s going on in Cuba. They want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea.”

In a further interview with CNN on Friday, Trump said “Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon”, adding that he was going to “put Marco [Rubio, secretary of state] over there”. “We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready,” he said.

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The US held significant influence in Cuba during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista before communist rebels under the leadership of Fidel Castro swept to power in the 1959 revolution. More than 1.4 million Cubans fled to the US, settling in large communities in Florida where they continue to hold a large sway over Republican politics.

Trump’s inner circle includes a number of Cuban-Americans vehemently opposed to communism on the island, including Rubio and the Fanjul brothers Pepe and Alfonso, billionaire donors from Florida.

On a visit to St Kitts and Nevis last week, Rubio said that “Cuba needs to change”.

“It doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next. Everyone is mature and realistic here. We’re seeing that process play out, for example, in Venezuela,” he said.

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For decades Cuba relied on cheap oil imports from Venezuela to prop up its economy, but these have dried up since Trump ordered US special forces to abduct Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, from Caracas, installing Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice-president, as his successor.

Having built up a US armada in the Caribbean Sea to oust Maduro, Trump has redeployed many American warships to the Middle East, including the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group.

In an interview discussing his recent attacks on Venezuela and Iran, Trump predicted regime change in Cuba. “People are loving what’s happening,” he told Politico. “Cuba’s going to fall, too.”

He added: “We cut off all oil, all money, or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal.”

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The US has previously attempted regime change in Cuba, most infamously during the Bay of Pigs invasion when anti-communist exiles supported by the CIA attempted to land on the island in 1961 but were confronted by revolutionaries, resulting in a humiliating defeat.