U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted the key role of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in negotiations with the Cuban regime.
During his appearance this Saturday at the Shield of the Americas summit, held in Miami with 12 allied countries from the continent, Trump stated that Cuba "wants to negotiate" and that, partly thanks to Rubio, an agreement with Havana could be reached "very easily."
"And they want to negotiate. They are currently negotiating with Marco and me, and with a few others. I believe that an agreement with Cuba could be reached very easily," said Trump
"Cuba is in its final moments as it has been. It will have a new and significant life, but it is in its final moments as it is now," he added.
In front of Latin American leaders, Trump joked about Rubio's role in the negotiations.
"What are you going to do, Marco? Take a couple of days off? No, he won't do that. Maybe an hour. He'll take an hour off and then finalize an agreement on Cuba. That one will be an easy one. But what we're doing encompasses the entire region," he said
"Many of you have come today and tell me: 'We hope you can take care of Cuba, because they have had issues with Cuba,' he added, referring to the Latin American presidents present."
"It surprised me, but four of you said, 'Could you do us a favor and take care of Cuba?' I will take care of that, alright," he concluded.
Trump also stated that the island is “at the end of the road,” that it “has no money” or oil, and attributed this situation to what he described as “a bad philosophy” and “a bad regime that has been detrimental for a long time.”
“Before they received money from Venezuela. They received oil from Venezuela. But now they don’t have money from Venezuela, they don’t have oil, they have nothing,” he said.
He also mentioned that in Cuba, there is not even enough fuel for aerial operations.
"People can't even... when they land in Cuba, they can't get fuel to take off again. They have to leave their planes there," he stated.
Trump insisted that the Cuban system is going through its final phase and that a transformation is on the horizon.
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