President Donald Trump vowed Monday to “take” Cuba as the Caribbean nation plunged into darkness under a total power blackout linked to a US oil embargo.
After nearly seven decades of defying the United States, Havana’s communist authorities face pressure from a Trump administration determined to assert influence.
“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,” he 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.”
The blackout resulted from a “complete shutdown of the national grid,” Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba said, adding that work had begun to restore electricity. Cuba’s aging power system regularly faces outages of up to 20 hours in parts of the island.
The US blockade has worsened the crisis. Since 9 January, no oil has been imported, affecting the power sector and forcing airlines to reduce flights.
In an attempt to relieve economic pressure, Cuban officials announced Monday that exiles could now invest and own businesses. “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, foreign trade minister and deputy prime minister, told NBC News.
The blackouts and shortages of food and medicine have fueled unrest. In Moron, a town east of Havana, demonstrators vandalized a provincial Communist Party office last weekend, and 14 people were arrested. Diaz-Canel acknowledged the frustration on X: “the discontent our people feel because of the prolonged blackouts.” He added: “What will never be comprehensible, justified or admitted is violence.”