U.S. President Donald Trump stated that his country would “take Cuba almost immediately” during an event in Florida this Friday. “When I get back from Iran, maybe we’ll have the aircraft carrier SS Lincoln land, and then they’ll surrender,” he said, referring to the Castro regime. His remarks escalate the tone of Washington’s threats over recent months and once again place the island’s future in the President’s crosshairs.
In comments made during a private dinner hosted by the Forum Club in West Palm Beach, Trump clarified that this alleged “taking of Cuba” would not occur until he had declared victory in Iran and reached an agreement to end the war. “We’ll finish this one first; I like to finish jobs,” he asserted.
“Upon our return—what we’ll do when we get back from Iran—we’ll send one of our aircraft carriers, maybe the Abraham Lincoln, the biggest in the world [a presidential error: the largest is the Gerald Ford]; we’ll have it pull up, stop a hundred meters from the shore, and they [the Cuban regime] will answer: ‘Thank you very much, we surrender,’” he boasted in a speech delivered during the dinner.
The Republican’s comments came hours after the White House issued an executive order in which Trump tightened and expanded—effective this very Friday—the already severe sanctions his country imposes on the Government of Cuba. These measures will now target “foreign or U.S.” individuals who engage in activities that generate foreign currency revenue for the island.
This new measure complements the energy embargo Washington has imposed on Havana since January 29—also enacted via executive order—through the threat of secondary tariffs and sanctions.
“The policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba […] continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat—the origin of which is wholly or substantially outside the United States—to the national security and foreign policy of the United States,” notes the executive order signed by the President. “Not only are they designed to harm the United States, but they are also repugnant to the moral and political values of free and democratic societies,” the document asserted.
The announcement was made public as Trump was traveling to Florida—where the Cuban-American community has a strong presence and wields significant political influence—to participate in an event promoting his economic policies for retirees in the community of The Villages.
