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  "path": "/politics/us/donald-trump-us-friendly-takeover-cuba-big-deal-trouble",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-28T01:24:41.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "imposing a maritime oil blockade",
    "Donald Trump REFUSES to back Chagos deal unless Keir Starmer lets him attack Iran from UK-US base",
    "Mike Tindall causes social media stir as he wears hat linked with Donald Trump: 'Lost his mind!'",
    "Keir Starmer rejoining 'toxic' customs union will 'tie Britain's hands behind its back' with the US",
    "heavily armed Florida-based exiles",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nPresident Donald Trump has raised the prospect of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba amid escalating tensions between Washington and Havana.\n\nSpeaking to reporters outside the White House as he departed for a campaign event in Texas, the President said: “The Cuban government is talking with us. They're in a big deal of trouble.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe went further, adding: “They have no money, they have no anything right now. But they're talking with us and maybe we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”\n\nReports have suggested that US officials have recently held discussions with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro - the grandson of 94-year-old Raúl Castro - during the Caricom Caribbean summit.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\nThe talks are understood to have focused on potential negotiations to open up the island nation.\n\n“I've been hearing about Cuba since I was a little boy, but they're in big trouble,” Mr Trump added.\n\nRelations between Washington and Havana have now deteriorated to levels not seen since the 1960s.\n\nMr Trump has increasingly focused on Cuba since US forces seized Mr Maduro - a close ally of Havana - on January 3, as Washington moves to reassert dominance in the Western Hemisphere.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSince the operation, the US has secured cooperation from Mr Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, who now serves as acting president and has pledged to open Venezuela’s vast oil reserves to international firms.\n\nVenezuela has since halted oil shipments to Cuba entirely.\n\nThe US has compounded Havana’s difficulties by imposing a maritime oil blockade, further straining an economy already under severe pressure.\n\nThe combined impact has left the island increasingly isolated and economically fragile.\n\n### DONALD TRUMP - READ THE LATEST:\n\n\n\n\n  * Donald Trump REFUSES to back Chagos deal unless Keir Starmer lets him attack Iran from UK-US base\n  * Mike Tindall causes social media stir as he wears hat linked with Donald Trump: 'Lost his mind!'\n  * Keir Starmer rejoining 'toxic' customs union will 'tie Britain's hands behind its back' with the US\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nManuel Barcia, a history professor at the University of Bath who left Cuba in 2001, offered a stark assessment.\n\n\"Cuba's Berlin Wall moment is around the corner,\" he said.\n\n\"It sounds like [US Secretary of State] Marco Rubio has orchestrated a very impressive takedown.\"\n\nMr Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who fled the island after Fidel Castro seized power, said last month that regime change would be a \"great benefit\" to the US.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Trump has long relied on support from Cuban exiles in Florida, many of whom have campaigned for the overthrow of the island’s communist regime.\n\nHis remarks came just days after an alleged incursion attempt, when heavily armed Florida-based exiles reportedly tried to land a weapons-laden speedboat on Cuba’s northern coast.\n\nA maritime firefight ensued, leaving four people dead and seven wounded.\n\nCuban officials later said the country “reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defence is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region”.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "'They're in a big deal of trouble!' Donald Trump suggests 'friendly takeover' of Cuba"
}