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Trump says new dawn coming to Cuba
The talks were revealed after Trump said earlier this week that his administration could focus on Cuba after the war in Iran ends.
“We may stop by Cuba after we finish with this,” he said. He described it as a “failing nation” and asserted that it has “been a terribly run country for a long time.”
In response, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the US has no valid reason to carry out a military attack against the island or attempt to depose him but that the country was ready to fight back if needed.
“The moment is extremely challenging and calls upon us once again, as on April 16, 1961, to be ready to confront serious threats, including military aggression. We do not want it, but it is our duty to prepare to avoid it and, if it becomes inevitable, to defeat it,” Diaz-Canel said.
He was speaking during a rally that drew hundreds of people to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the declaration of the Cuban Revolution’s socialist essence.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment about the talks last week.
On Friday, Trump said that a “new dawn” is coming for Cuba, arguing that American “strength” would soon deliver change to the island nation after 70 years.
“And very soon, this great strength will also bring about a day, 70 years in waiting. It’s called a new dawn for Cuba. We’re going to help them out with Cuba,” Trump told a crowd at an event in Phoenix, Arizona.
Pointing to Cuban American communities, he claimed they “were brutally treated, whose families were killed and brutalised.”
“And now watch what happens,” he added.