Trump: Will have the honour of taking Cuba, can do anything with it

President Donald Trump on Monday raised the possibility of the US "taking" Cuba, telling reporters at the White House, "I do believe I will be having the honour of taking Cuba." He further said, "Taking Cuba.

I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it. They're a very weakened nation right now."The president's words came on the same day as Cuba experienced a nationwide blackout, amid diminishing fuel supplies. On Monday evening, Cuban officials had planned to announce that the country's communist govt would open itself to foreign investment, including from the US, Cuba's deputy prime minister, Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga, told NBC News.

"Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies, also with Cubans residing in the US and their descendants," deputy prime minister said.US secretary of state Marco Rubio Tuesday said Cuba "needs new people in charge" to repair it. Rubio, who himself is of Cuban heritage, said the island "has an economy that doesn't work in a political and governmental system. They can't fix it." Rubio added, "They have to change dramatically."

The Trump administration is seeking to push Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel from power, according to four people familiar with the talks. The move would topple a key figurehead but leave in place the repressive Communist govt that has ruled Cuba for more than 65 years. The Americans have signalled to Cuban negotiators that the president must go, but are leaving the next steps up to the Cubans, the people said.The US so far is not pushing for any action against Fidel Castro's family members, who remain the country's top power brokers, two of the people said.

That is consistent with the general desire of President Trump and his aides to force regime compliance rather than regime change in their foreign policy. In the view of some Trump administration officials, removing Cuba's head of state would allow structural economic changes in the country that Diaz-Canel, whom the officials consider a hard-liner, is unlikely to support, one of the people said.It is unclear how widely Cuba intends to open its economy. The scheduled announcement, which could not be broadcast, coincided with a severe humanitarian and energy crisis, with some experts saying the island could run out of fuel within weeks because of a de facto blockade by the Trump administration.

For the past three months, the US has choked off Cuba's access to foreign oil. Fraga, who also serves as minister of foreign trade, also said govt would open the economy to investments beyond the private sector. "This goes beyond the commercial realm," he said. "It also applies to investments, not only to small ones, but also to large ones." NYT