{"id":538147,"date":"2026-03-22T07:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538147\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:05:18","slug":"trump-aims-to-end-the-revolution-that-fidel-castro-started-can-the-us-and-cuba-strike-a-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/538147\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump aims to end the revolution that Fidel Castro started. Can the US and Cuba strike a deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Havana
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Donald Trump wants us to believe that a deal with Cuba is close at hand. After this past week, I am not so sure.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey have no energy. They have no money. They\u2019re in deep trouble,\u201d Trump has said, explaining why he believes the Cuban government is desperate to reach an agreement to save the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump is correct that Havana is under the most severe pressure at any time since the 1962 missile crisis, when a US invasion of the island seemed all but guaranteed.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now, as back then, Cuba faces a US blockade. Through military action in Venezuela and threats of tariffs on Mexico, Trump has prevented oil from entering the island, crippling an economy already hamstrung by the communist government\u2019s own disastrous limits on private industry.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, a Cuban American and a fierce critic of the island\u2019s leadership, is leading negotiations with Havana. He has been preparing his entire professional life for this moment.\n <\/p>\n

\n In mid-January \u2013 as Cuba received the bodies of their 32 soldiers who died defending Nicol\u00e1s Maduro during the US attack that captured the Venezuelan leader \u2013 I heard Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel vow at a mass demonstration in front of the US Embassy in Havana that the government would make no concessions to the Trump administration.\n <\/p>\n

\n But then, as the oil blockade took a toll on already beleaguered Cubans, signs of an agreement began to emerge.\n <\/p>\n

\n After weeks of rumors and leaks in Washington, Cuba confirmed negotiations were being held. The government released 51 prisoners, some of them jailed for protesting against the administration, and announced long-awaited, if still limited in scope, reforms that would allow Cubans living abroad to invest on the island.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rocking back and forth nervously during a television appearance, a haggard-looking Diaz-Canel acknowledged the same talks, which his government had denied were taking place just days before.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhenever we have been in tense situations in relations with the United States, efforts have been made to find channels for dialogue,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then just as quickly as negotiations were confirmed, Trump seemed to squash any chance they would lead anywhere.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Monday, as Cuba endured a nationwide blackout, Trump, alongside Rubio in the Oval Office, declared: \u201cI do believe I\u2019ll be having the honor of taking Cuba. It\u2019s a big honor, I \u200bmean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rubio appeared to confirm earlier reports in The Miami Herald and The New York Times that the administration was demanding that Diaz-Canel and other officials viewed as obstacles to change step down.\n <\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe people in charge, they don\u2019t know how to fix (Cuba\u2019s economy),\u201d Rubio said. \u201cSo they have to get new people in charge. That\u2019s what has to happen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump mused as well about Cuba\u2019s \u201cgreat weather\u201d while bizarrely and falsely asserting that the island, just 90 miles from Florida, is \u201cnot in the hurricane zone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The comments played into the hands of Cuba\u2019s hardliners who have long claimed the ultimate goal of the US is to annex their island.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Cuban government soon fired back at Trump\u2019s assertions, with Diaz-Canel posting on X: \u201cIn the face of the worst scenario, Cuba is accompanied by a certainty: any external aggressor will clash with an impregnable resistance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Letting the US pick who leads the island was tantamount to surrender and would not be considered, officials said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNeither the president nor the position of any leader in Cuba is up for negotiation with the United States,\u201d Cuba\u2019s top diplomat for US affairs, Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez De Cossio, told reporters in Havana on Friday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Cubans have now been treated to the surreal sight of the island\u2019s most famous living musician, Silvio Rodriguez, receiving a machine gun alongside the Cuban president and top military officials.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodriguez, a stalwart supporter of the revolution who is sometimes called \u201cCuba\u2019s Bob Dylan,\u201d has criticized Diaz-Canel\u2019s management of the economy in recent years. But on Friday, he was all in.\n <\/p>\n

\"Cuban<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI demand my AKM, if they launch an attack. And I mean it,\u201d the musician, 79, posted online, referring to the rifle that replaced the AK-47 and is standard issue for the Cuban military.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rodriguez, whose songs about love, social justice and human connection have reached millions over the decades, had requested the weapon to defend the island, according to state media.\n <\/p>\n

\n Trump\u2019s threats and the oil blockade seem to have united Cuban officials and supporters of the government at the same time his administration was trying to splinter its inner circle.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe (Cuban) government\u2019s claim that it\u2019s the US embargo that\u2019s at fault was wearing a little thin, because they\u2019ve been making that argument for many, many years,\u201d William LeoGrande, a professor at American University, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s true, of course, that the US economic embargo does hamper the Cuban economy tremendously, but people were beginning to blame the government\u2019s mistakes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Keep talking \u2014 and buying time<\/p>\n

\n Despite the rising tensions and Trump\u2019s belligerent comments, Cuban officials said they would continue with negotiations.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe will also be open to a serious and responsible dialogue with the government of the United States, without interference in internal affairs or in our respective political, economic, and social systems,\u201d Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez Parrilla said Saturday at a forum for Latin American, Caribbean and African countries.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Cuban strategy appears to be keep talking to buy time, perhaps even until the US midterm elections in November when the Democrats could regain Congress. It\u2019s not clear how much time they really have \u2014 both Venezuela and Iran were in discussions with the US when Trump ordered attacks on those countries.\n <\/p>\n

\"Bruno<\/p>\n

\n And there are reports that the Trump administration may indict former Cuban leader Raul Castro \u2013 who still wields ultimate power on the island \u2013 for his role in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown and decades-old allegations of involvement in drug trafficking which the Cuban government has long denied.\n <\/p>\n

\n Any US charges against Castro, 94, would likely kill off any chance of a diplomatic solution.\n <\/p>\n

\n Initially, Trump had seemed to propose an economic opening that some Cuba-watchers called Obama 2.0, in reference to the agreement that Trump\u2019s predecessor negotiated but that was scuttled after he left office.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now it\u2019s clear, despite whatever promises of sanctions relief or side deals Trump is promising to Cuban officials, his aim is to end the revolution started by Fidel Castro.\n <\/p>\n

\n But for many Cubans any benefits afforded to them by the island\u2019s socialist system vanished long ago. A government food-rationing system now delivers only the most meager supplies, the island\u2019s vaunted medical and education systems have been dramatically reduced, blackouts stretch across most the day and whole neighborhoods are buried under uncollected trash.\n <\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s like we are not people, we are animals! What a lack of respect. Tourist areas are cleaned but here no. It\u2019s sad,\u201d Centro Habana resident Joani Manuel Tablada Fal told CNN on a street where trash stretched knee-deep for more than a block.\n <\/p>\n

\n Frustrated at worsening conditions, Cubans on a nightly basis are taking to the streets to participate in forbidden protests beating pots and pans to call for change.\n <\/p>\n

\n While the Trump administration promises a quick deal and the Cuban government prepares for invasion, it\u2019s possible neither scenario will take place. Instead, left under the most punishing economic sanctions Cubans have known in their lives, the island may slowly wither and die.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Havana \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Donald Trump wants us to believe that a deal with Cuba is close at hand. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-538147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","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\/538147","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=538147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}