Trump threatens to topple Cuba's authorities before leaving office, calls island a 'failed nation'
US President Donald Trump has said he would 'certainly consider' using military force against Cuba, adding that he wants to 'get Cuba done' before he leaves office in 2029. He called the island a 'failed nation'.
In a phone interview on Thursday with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt of Salem News Channel, Trump was asked whether he was considering 'freeing Cuba' through a military intervention.
Trump said: 'I want to get Cuba done before I leave.' He added that his administration was 'watching it very closely'.
He called the island 'essentially a failed place, nation, whatever you wanna call it'.
According to Politico's reporting, it was the first time Trump had put a timeline on a possible operation.
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, 'would love to do it'.
He said: 'I'd love to be able to do it for the people, for the Cubans that came and were treated really badly, and they came to America.' He added that he won the Cuban vote in Florida by a wide margin.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to topple the authorities in Cuba. On Monday, he said Cuba 'will fall fairly soon' and that the US would help it 'on a humanitarian basis'.
In March, he said he believed he would have 'the honour of taking Cuba'. He made those remarks as the island's power grid collapsed.
Trump put Cuba under a de facto oil blockade in January. After the US seized Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, Venezuelan oil supplies to the island were cut off.
He signed an executive order declaring Cuba an 'unusual and extraordinary threat' to the US and threatened tariffs on any country that supplied it with fuel.
The blockade has caused repeated nationwide blackouts, fuel and food shortages, and a humanitarian crisis. Cuban officials have called it 'collective punishment'.
Washington has added further sanctions, including on Cuba's state oil company, President Miguel Diaz-Canel and relatives of former President Raul Castro. This month it announced a new round targeting 10 people and entities tied to the government, military and oil industry.
The US has also issued an arrest warrant for Raul Castro. Officials from both sides have held talks on the blockade, but Cuba's foreign minister said in June there had been 'no progress'.
In March, the head of US Southern Command told senators that US troops were not rehearsing for an invasion of Cuba. Cuban officials said the island was ready for any attack.
