{"id":511782,"date":"2026-03-08T20:59:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T20:59:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511782\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T20:59:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T20:59:15","slug":"donald-trump-79-issues-bonkers-last-moments-cuba-takeover-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/511782\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump, 79, Issues Bonkers \u2018Last Moments\u2019 Cuba Takeover Threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump used what was billed as a peace-and-security summit with Latin American leaders to declare that the latest nation to grab his attention is living on borrowed time.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the administration\u2019s inaugural \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d summit at Trump National Doral Golf Club on Saturday, the 79-year-old president painted a dire picture of the country\u2019s future while threatening that his administration will soon step in to \u201ctake care\u201d of the island nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCuba\u2019s in its last moments of life,\u201d Trump said during his speech to leaders from 12 countries across the Western Hemisphere. <\/p>\n

\"DonaldTrump took the stage at the \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d summit to address leaders from across the Western hemisphere. Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters <\/p>\n

He went on to declare the island was \u201cvery much at the end of the line,\u201d claiming \u201cthey have no money, they have no oil,\u201d and is governed by what he described as a \u201cbad regime.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite that grim diagnosis, Trump insisted the United States could quickly engineer a transformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great change is coming to Cuba,\u201d he said, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 54, would soon finish negotiating a deal with the island nation.<\/p>\n

\"MarcoSecretary of State Marco Rubio praised Trump at the \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d summit for his policies in Latin America. Rebecca Blackwell\/via Reuters <\/p>\n

After laying out the dire state of the country, the president joked that the diplomatic breakthrough might take about as long as a lunch break.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll take an hour off, and then he\u2019ll finish up a deal on Cuba,\u201d Trump said of Rubio. \u201cThat\u2019ll be an easy one.\u201d <\/p>\n

The comments came during the launch of the administration\u2019s \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d initiative, a new regional security coalition that the White House said is designed to combat drug cartels, illegal migration, and hostile foreign influence in the Western Hemisphere. <\/p>\n

\"DonaldPresident Donald Trump took a moment out of the \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d summit to declare Cuba finished. Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters <\/p>\n

The president framed the island\u2019s economic crisis as proof that his administration\u2019s pressure campaign is working.<\/p>\n

For decades, Cuba relied heavily on oil shipments and financial support from Venezuela. But that lifeline has weakened dramatically following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January.<\/p>\n

Trump boasted this week that this move brought the island to its brink. <\/p>\n

\"NicolasNicol\u00e1s Maduro pleaded not guilty to the federal drug charges filed against him. XNY\/Star Max\/GC Images <\/p>\n

He told Politico<\/a> on Thursday, \u201cWe cut off all oil, all money\u2014or we cut off everything coming in from Venezuela, which was the sole source. And they want to make a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump also claimed that Cuban officials are already negotiating with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to negotiate, and they are negotiating with Marco and myself and some others,\u201d he told<\/a> the assembled leaders. <\/p>\n

He even suggested that several Latin American leaders at the summit had privately urged him to intervene.<\/p>\n

\"DonaldPresident Donald Trump signs the \u201cCommitment to countering cartel criminal activity\u201d document during the \u201cShield of the Americas\u201d summit. Kevin Lamarque\/REUTERS <\/p>\n

\u201cFour of you said, \u2018Actually, could you do us a favor? Take care of Cuba,\u201d Trump recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take care of it,\u201d he pledged.<\/p>\n

Trump acknowledged that another global crisis is taking precedence. With the United States currently locked in conflict with Iran\u2014which began last week with joint strikes launched by the U.S. and Israel\u2014the president said any dramatic moves involving Cuba would likely have to wait.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus right now is on Iran, and we\u2019ll do that,\u201d Trump told the summit before asking the leaders, \u201cWhat will you do?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the Summit, the president posed alongside the Latin American leaders for a group signing of a joint declaration related to the initiative, a moment in which the president bizarrely demanded that the triumphant music continue playing. <\/p>\n

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump used what was billed as a peace-and-security summit with Latin American leaders to declare that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3668,12,643,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-511782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-cuba","tag-donald-trump","tag-marco-rubio","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}