Trump Says He Will Take Cuba as Blackouts Deepen Across the Island

US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to “take” Cuba as the communist island plunged into darkness under a total power blackout linked to a crippling oil embargo imposed by Washington. After nearly seven decades defying the United States, Havana’s communist authorities are under massive pressure from a Trump administration determined to make history.

“You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I do believe I’ll be…having the honor of taking Cuba,” Trump said.

“Whether I free it, take it — think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now.” It was one of Trump’s most explicit threats and came as the Caribbean island of 9.6 million people grappled with yet another major power cut.

The blackout resulted from a “complete shutdown of the national grid,” Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore electricity flow. Cuba’s aging electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island.

But since the US ouster of Cuba’s top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3, the island’s economy has been hammered further as Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade. No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

In a bid to relieve economic pressure — and meet US demands — a senior economic official in Cuba announced Monday that Cuban exiles would now be able to invest and own businesses there. “Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies” and “also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants,” Oscar Perez-Oliva, who is foreign trade minister and also deputy prime minister, told NBC News.

The New York Times reported Monday, relying on anonymous sources, that Trump administration officials have signaled to Cuban officials that the US wants President Miguel Diaz-Canel to be removed from power.

Popular unrest

The blackouts, as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics, are spurring frustrations. In a rare moment of violence, demonstrators vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend. It was part of a new trend of protests in which people bang pots and pans at night, at times yelling “Libertad,” or freedom. 

Fourteen people have been arrested after the office assault in Moron, a town of around 70,000 people east of Havana, the regional party chief told state-run newspaper Invasor.   The violence prompted Diaz-Canel to acknowledge in an X post “the discontent our people feel because of the prolonged blackouts”, including a major outage in early March.

“What will never be comprehensible, justified or admitted is violence,” Diaz-Canel said. The government has also rationed gasoline sales and some hospital services due to the fuel shortages. Diaz-Canel confirmed last week that his government had held talks with the United States. 

Trump has alleged the fuel blockade is a response to an “extraordinary threat” posed by Cuba to the United States. Trump said Sunday that Cuba “wants to make a “deal”, which could come quickly after his administration has finished the war against Iran. “I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.