President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday that the Cuban government is “in a big deal of trouble” and suggested that there might be a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
The president spoke as he departed the White House, responding to a question from NBC News White House Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez about the boat shooting off of Cuba’s coast on Wednesday.
“The Cuban government is talking with us and they’re in a big deal of trouble as you know. 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. We could very well end up having a friendly take over Cuba,” he said.
Trump didn’t elaborate on what a “friendly takeover” would entail.
“After many may years, we’ve had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba, I’ve been hearing about Cuba since I’m a little boy,” Trump said. “But they’re in big trouble, and we could very well, something could, I think very positive for the people that were expelled or worse from Cuba that live here. You know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba, and they’re very happy with what’s going on.”
Trump’s comments come after four people were killed and seven were injured in a confrontation involving people on a boat registered in Florida and Cuban Border Guard Troops on Wednesday, according to the Cuban government.
The island’s government said that the 10 passengers on the boat were armed Cubans living in the U.S. who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was not a U.S. government operation.
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.