{"id":320851,"date":"2026-02-27T23:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/320851\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T23:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T23:21:09","slug":"donald-trump-raises-prospect-of-friendly-takeover-of-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/320851\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump raises prospect of &#8216;friendly takeover&#8217; of Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">&#8220;The Cuban government is talking with us, and they&#8217;re in a big deal of trouble,&#8221; Trump said as he left the White House for a trip to Texas. &#8220;They have no money. They have no anything right now, but they&#8217;re talking with us, and maybe we&#8217;ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Trump described Cuba as a failing nation in need of change, adding that he had been hearing about the country&#8217;s woes since he was a little boy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">&#8220;I can see that happening. Marco Rubio is dealing on it and at a very high level,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They have no money, they have no oil, they have no food. And it&#8217;s really right now a nation in deep trouble and they want our help,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The Cuban government has said it is not in any high-level talks with the United States but has not outright denied press reports that US officials may be in informal talks with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban President Raul Castro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Axios reported this month that Rubio had been holding secret talks with the grandson of Cuba&#8217;s former leader. US officials close to Rubio met with the grandson again on the sidelines of this week&#8217;s regional Caribbean Community conference in St. Kitts and Nevis, the Miami Herald reported on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"People walk through the city center, following an armed incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat and a Cuban patrol, in Santa Clara, Cuba, February 26, 2026. REUTERS\/Norlys Perez\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ded0defb-37b7-4f53-81fa-22b0cf5f76e0.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">People walk through the city center, following an armed incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat and a Cuban patrol, in Santa Clara, Cuba, February 26, 2026. REUTERS\/Norlys Perez<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Today&#8217;s News in 90 &#8211; Friday February 27                        <\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Tensions with Cuba ratcheted up after Cuban forces this week killed four exiles and wounded six others who sailed into Cuban waters aboard a Florida-registered speedboat and opened fire on a Cuban patrol. Rubio denied it was a US operation and said no US government personnel were involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The incident took place as the United States has blocked virtually all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the Communist government. Last month, US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, removing a key Cuban ally from power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Rubio has railed against the Cuban government in recent weeks, calling the status quo there unsustainable, and saying Cuba needed to change &#8220;dramatically.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Cuban exiles who are largely concentrated in Miami have long dreamed of overthrowing the Cuban government or seeing it fall and have in the past plotted against the government that was established by the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Trump mentioned the large Cuban community, saying a takeover of Cuba by the U.S. could be &#8220;something good &#8230; very positive&#8221; for people who had been expelled from the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">&#8220;We have people living here that want to go back to Cuba, and they&#8217;re very happy with what&#8217;s going on,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Cuban government is talking with us, and they&#8217;re in a big deal of trouble,&#8221; Trump said as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,898,43,60422,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-320851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-latest-news-ticker","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-news-in-90-seconds","12":"tag-top-news","13":"tag-top-stories","14":"tag-topnews","15":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}