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Trump says announcement on Cuba embargo coming “pretty soon”
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Trump says announcement on Cuba embargo coming “pretty soon”
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President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States will make an announcement on the embargo against Cuba “pretty soon.”
“We’ll see. We’ll be announcing it pretty soon,” Trump said when asked how long he anticipates the embargo will be in place.
There’s a longstanding economic embargo, as well as an oil blockade, against Cuba that has pushed the island’s energy crisis to its limits.
Asked whether the Cuban people should expect “any escalation,” Trump told reporters: “No, there won’t be escalation. I don’t think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart. It’s a mess, and they’ve sort of lost control. They’ve really lost control of Cuba.”
Trump praised acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in relation to the indictment of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, and said the US has “Cuba on our mind.”
“This was a big — I think it was a very big moment for people that, not only Cuban Americans, but people that came from Cuba that want to go back to Cuba, people who want to see their family in Cuba,” Trump added.
Asked about CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s trip to Cuba last week, Trump said, “We have a lot of people there,” including the CIA, and also noted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s familial ties to Cuba.
“We have a lot of expertise in Cuba,” Trump said. “They’ve been looking for this moment for 65 years, so we’ll see what happens.”
“In the meantime, we have to help them out. They have no, no way of living. They have no food, they have no electricity, they have no energy at all. But they do have great people,” he added.