People stand on a street during a blackout in Havana, Cuba on March 16, 2026. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)
“He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally. Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do ‘anything he wants’ with it.”
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that he believes he will have “the honor of taking Cuba” and that he “can do anything” he wants with the island, as the nation of 11 million people faced a large-scale blackout and a humanitarian crisis intensified by the Trump administration’s oil embargo.
“It’s a beautiful island, great weather,” Trump said of Cuba, whose economy has been strangled by decades of US economic warfare. “I do believe… I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba.”
Asked to clarify what he meant by “taking” Cuba, Trump said: “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth. A very weakened nation.”
Watch:
Trump: Cuba, it's a beautiful island. Great weather. I will be having the honor of taking Cuba. Whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth pic.twitter.com/Po7J9tJMr2
“Dear god,” responded David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International. “Donald Trump is once again announcing his plans for a violent invasion of Cuba. We must stop him. To stand up for Cuba—against this malignant colonial mindset—is to stand up for all of humanity.”
Trump’s remarks came as Cuba faced an island-wide blackout caused by what the government called “complete disconnection” of the nation’s electrical system. According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the country hasn’t received an oil shipment in over three months due to the Trump administration’s embargo, which began shortly after the US abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and set its sights on the island as its next target.
“Cuba is ready to fall,” Trump said hours after the kidnapping of Maduro.
“In the view of some Trump administration officials, removing Cuba’s head of state would allow structural economic changes in the country that Mr. Díaz-Canel, whom the officials consider a hard-liner, is unlikely to support,” the Times reported. “If the Cubans agree, it would result in the first major political shake-up arising from talks between the two countries since those began a few months ago.”
Trump’s latest threat to seize Cuba came as his administration continued to wage war on Iran, a deadly assault that was not authorized by the US Congress and is illegal under international law.
“He’s at war in Iran without congressional authorization. He overthrew Venezuela by force. He threatened to invade a NATO ally,” US Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) said Monday. “Now he wants to take Cuba and thinks he can do ‘anything he wants’ with it. Where the hell are my Republican colleagues?”
“They took the same oath I did. Every single one of them who stays silent owns this,” Levin added. “A Congress that won’t stop a president who answers to no one isn’t a coequal branch. It’s an accomplice.”
Last week, a trio of Senate Democrats introduced a war powers resolution aimed at preventing Trump from attacking Cuba, but the measure likely faces the same fate as previous resolutions on Venezuela and Iran in the Republican-controlled chamber.
“The United States is a full-blown rogue state under Donald Trump,” Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote Monday.
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US President Donald Trump speaks to the press before he departs the White House in Washington, DC en route to Corpus Christi, Texas on February 27, 2026.(Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Trump ran on an explicitly anti-interventionist platform when he ran for president,” noted one critic. “He lied to the American people.”
As the world braces for a possible US war on Iran and people in Venezuela, Nigeria, and Yemen still reel from recent US attacks, President Donald Trump—the self-proclaimed “peace president” who has bombed more countries than any other American administration—said Friday that the United States may launch a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.
“The Cuban government is talking with us, they’re in a big deal of trouble, as you know,” Trump told reporters outside the White House before departing for Texas. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”
“We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,” he added.
BREAKING: Trump floats a “friendly takeover” of Cuba while he pushes the U.S. closer to war in Iran. Trump ran on an explicitly anti-interventionist platform when he ran for president. He lied to the American people. pic.twitter.com/zs58bXb7Mw
— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary Account) (@MAGALieTracker) February 27, 2026
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío posted on social media Friday that “the US maintains its fuel embargo against Cuba in full force, and its impact as a form of collective punishment is unwavering.”
“Nothing announced in recent days changes this reality,” he added. “The possibility of conditional sales to the private sector already existed and does not alleviate the impact on the Cuban population.”
Trump’s comments sparked criticism on social media, with one X user writing: “A ‘friendly takeover’ is an interesting phrase in international diplomacy. If the US is discussing Cuba’s future, I’m sure [Russian President] Vladimir Putin is suddenly very interested in the definition of friendly’ too.”
University of North Texas, Dallas political science professor Orlando Pérez said on X that “more often than not, [Trump’s] mouth is his worst enemy.”
“This BS plays into the hands of hard-liners on both sides of the Florida Straits and reduces chances of a negotiated deal,” he added. “Why would anyone in Cuba agree to a deal that leads to a US ‘takeover’?”
Meanwhile, dozens of civil society groups on Friday sent a letter to Congress urging lawmakers “to press the Trump administration to reverse its aggressive policy towards Cuba.”
“Instead, Congress should call on the administration to expand humanitarian relief, support political and economic engagement, and foster a more vibrant private sector that can deliver a better quality of life for the Cuban people,” added the groups, which include Alianza Americas, American Friends Service Committee, CodePink, Demand Progress, Peace Action, Presbyterian Church USA, RootsAction, United Church of Christ, and Win Without War.
Trump’s remarks Friday came in response to a question from NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez regarding Wednesday’s incident in which Cuban maritime defense forces killed four men and captured six others during a shootout with a Florida-registered speedboat allegedly carrying weapons intended for what Havana called “an infiltration for terrorist purposes.” South Florida has long been a base for right-wing Cuban exiles who have launched numerous terror attacks against the Cuban people and international tourists on the island, including by speedboat strafings.
Trump did not clarify his comments, seemingly suggesting that moves to topple Cuba’s socialist government—which has outlasted a dozen US presidents—could be freshly afoot. Since Cubans overthrew a brutal US-backed dictatorship in 1959, the United States or allied exile forces tried to assassinate former Cuban President Fidel Castro hundreds of times, backed an ill-fated invasion at Bay of Pigs, served as a base for perpetrators of some of the hemisphere’s worst terror attacks, and even hatched a plan to detonate a nuclear bomb high above the island to convince its people that the return of Jesus Christ was nigh and the only thing standing in the way of the so-called “Second Coming” was Castro.
A 64-year US economic embargo on Cuba, which Trump recently worsened by cutting off fuel, has been a leading force crippling Cuba’s economy and is now being blamed for a soaring infant mortality on the island.
Friday’s remarks by Trump came as Iranians and people across the Middle East and beyond are bracing for a possible US attack on Iran—the second in as many years—and less than than two months after the president ordered the bombing and invasion of Venezuela during an operation that ended with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro abducted and jailed in United States, where he is expected to face trial for dubious narco-trafficking charges.
If the US strikes Cuba, it will be the 11th country attacked during Trump’s two terms in office. The president—who says he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize—has ordered attacks on Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen, and has bombed dozens of boats allegedly transporting drugs in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, in Beijing on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Lin Jian/X)
“China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference,” a Beijing spokesperson said.
As the Trump administration weaponizes its economic privation of the Cuban people in hopes of ousting their socialist government, China on Tuesday reaffirmed its pledge to help alleviate the island’s worsening oil shortage.
Emboldened by his recent abduction of socialist Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on legally dubious “narco-terrorism” charges, President Donald Trump is ratcheting up pressure on a people already ravaged by 64 years of what many critics call Washington’s “economic terrorism” and decades of actual terrorism committed by US-based right-wing Cuban exiles.
Cut off from the Venezuelan petroleum that provided around 75% of Cuba’s imported oil just a few years ago, the island is suffering a worsening energy emergency. The Cuban government has responded by strictly rationing fuel and seeking alternate sources of oil such as Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Russia.
“I would like to stress again that China firmly supports Cuba in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and opposing external interference,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said during a press conference.
“China stands firmly against the inhumane actions that deprive the Cuban people of their right to subsistence and development,” he added. “China will, as always, do our best to provide support and assistance to Cuba.”
As is usually the case when Washington tightens the screws on Cuba, everyday Cubans are suffering the most.
“You can’t imagine how it touches every part of our lives,” Marta Jiménez, a hairdresser in Cuba’s eastern city of Holguín, told CodePink co-founder and frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Medea Benjamin, who traveled to Cuba last week with a group to deliver 2,500 pounds of lentils.
“It’s a vicious, all-encompassing spiral downward,” Jiménez continued. “With no gasoline, buses don’t run, so we can’t get to work. We have electricity only three to six hours a day. There’s no gas for cooking, so we’re burning wood and charcoal in our apartments. It’s like going back 100 years.”
“The blockade is suffocating us—especially single mothers,” she added, “and no one is stopping these demons, Trump and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio.”
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly every year but once since 1992 to condemn the US blockade on Cuba. Last October, the UNGA voted 165-7 against the embargo, with 12 abstentions.
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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel addresses nation. Photo: Presidencia Cuba
The Cuban president emphasized to the press that his country does not pose a threat to US security. He reported on the hardships Cubans are facing as a result of the Trump administration’s latest decisions.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke to the press on Thursday, February 5, about the situation facing the island in the wake of the latest measures imposed by Washington.
Following the seizure of Venezuelan tankers bound for Cuba by the United States Military, the Trump administration increased pressure on the island, which has been under an economic and commercial blockade for more than 60 years, by threatening to increase tariffs on any country that sells fuel to Cuba.
The US military campaign against Venezuela, including a naval blockade on oil and the kidnapping of the president and the first lady, cut off one of Cuba’s only alternatives for obtaining oil.
In his address, the president reported that no fuel has entered Cuba since December.
The loss of fuel supply severely complicates the electricity supply on which schools, transportation, and vital health infrastructure depend. In view of this, several analysts have called Trump’s latest measure against the Cuban people “genocidal”.
“Cuba is not a threat to the United States”
Díaz-Canel said he is aware of the difficulties and painful hardships that the Cuban people are going through following a decision that Washington justifies based on an alleged threat that Cuba poses to its national security, something that has been widely questioned by various analysts and politicians around the world.
On this subject, a deeply moved Díaz-Canel said during his appearance: “Cuba is not a terrorist country, nor is it a threat to the security of the United States. Cuba has never carried out, nor proposed, nor organized any aggressive action that puts at risk the territorial integrity, the security, or the stability of the government of the United States.”
He added: “We do not protect terrorists, and there are no military forces in Cuba from other nations or from other groups. In Cuba, there is indeed a military base – an illegal military base – and it is an illegal United States military base on Cuban soil, in the province of Guantánamo, against the will of the Cuban people.”
Cuba proposes dialogue “between equals”
In response, he affirmed that Cuba has always been and remains willing to engage in dialogue with Washington, although he clarified that “dialogue under pressure is not dialogue.” In this regard, he said that Cuba advocates civilized relations between neighbors, but rejects blackmail, threats, and impositions by some countries on others as a method of negotiation. He thus demanded respect for Cuban sovereignty.
Díaz-Canel said that his government is willing to meet with officials from the Trump administration to discuss the situation between the two countries: “Cuba is open to dialogue on any issue that needs to be debated or discussed, as long as there is no pressure or preconditions, in a situation of equality and respect for our sovereignty, independence, and self-determination.”
The theory of collapse
According to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, between March 2024 and February 2025 alone, the damage caused by the economic blockade of Cuba amounts to 7.556 billion USD, which represents a 49% increase compared to the previous period, showing that the blockade causes greater damage over time.
For his part, the Cuban president recalled that the US strategy of applying pressure until the country collapses is not new, and that despite all the difficulties Cuba has had to endure, it is not a failed state, as claimed by the White House: “The theory of collapse and the insistence on it is related to a whole set of constructs that the US government has tried to use to characterize the Cuban situation. This theory of collapse is associated with one of the currents in which the US government is determined to overthrow the Cuban revolution.”
Currently, he said, Cuba is enduring not only a series of mechanisms that seek to suffocate the Caribbean country, combined with the constant threat of military aggression, but also a media campaign that combines slander, hatred, and psychological warfare to justify various US attacks.
However, the Cuban president also pointed out that, despite the new conditions following the attack on Venezuela on January 3, there are several signs of international solidarity with his government: “Cuba is not alone, and we know that there are countries and companies willing to continue working with the largest of the Antilles.”
The revolutionary government’s decisions: savings and defense
Faced with this difficult situation, Díaz-Canel outlined the decisions his government has taken to tackle this new onslaught: “We have had to make a series of assessments in the Political Bureau, the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, and the National Defense Council, and we have just had a meeting in the Council of Ministers to update the plan to be implemented based on government directives to address an acute fuel shortage.”
Cuba has implemented fuel rationing to ensure the functioning of essential and basic activities for the Cuban population, although he acknowledged that the difficulty has been enormous, considering that no oil shipments have arrived in Cuba throughout 2026. This will mean a reduction in public transportation and an increase in blackouts on the island, which have already broken records.
In response, the Cuban president raised the possibility of increasing other types of energy sources, such as renewable energies, although this process will take time. Therefore, he said, the government must now demonstrate enormous creativity to overcome this new barrier that the United States, the most powerful country on earth, is unilaterally imposing on a country of just 10 million inhabitants.
In addition, Díaz-Canel stated that following the attack on Venezuela, in which more than 30 Cuban combatants on security missions in the South American country were killed, Cuba has prepared itself to face possible US military aggression: “One of the priorities we established was to deploy a defense preparedness plan.”
According to Díaz-Canel, in the event of military aggression, Fidel Castro’s old military principle of “war by the entire people” will be used against external aggressors. This, however, does not mean that the country is entering a “state of war”, but rather that it is preparing for the moment when that step must be taken, the president said.
In this regard, Foreign Minister Rodríguez said on Telegram: “The US seeks to impose its will on the rights of sovereign states and has been using force and aggression against Cuba for 67 years. On its side is enormous military power and the size of its economy, plus vast experience in aggression and crimes. On our side is reason, international law, and the patriotic spirit of a people.”
He added: “We Cubans are not willing to sell our country or give in to threats and blackmail, nor are we willing to renounce the inalienable prerogative with which we build our own destiny, in peace with the rest of the world. We will defend Cuba. Those who know us know that this is a firm, categorical, and proven commitment.”
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US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at a press conference in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2026. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is a new kind of era of depravity opened up,” said the congresswoman. “There was this stated commitment on human rights—that innocent civilians were almost exempt from the rules of war, from blockades.”
As the Cuban government announced Monday that the Trump administration’s oil blockade on the country would soon leave airlines without jet fuel, US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned that the international community has become far too accepting of acts of economic warfare that collectively punish an entire population, not just government officials.
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told Drop Site News reporter Julian Andreone that the stage for the worsened suffering of Cuban people was set in Gaza, where both Republican and Democratic US officials have backed Israel’s starvation policy and military assault since October 2023.
“This is what we’ve seen with Gaza, right, this is a new kind of era of depravity opened up, where there used to be—or there was this stated commitment on human rights—that innocent civilians were almost exempt from the rules of war, from blockades,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
🎥 WATCH | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) reacted to Drop Site News reporting on internal divisions in the Trump administration’s Cuba policy by pointing to Gaza as evidence of a broader collapse in Western human rights norms.
Cuban people have long been victimized by the US government’s decadeslong, illegal trade embargo. But Trump’s decision to cut off Cuba’s oil supply from Venezuela, which was its largest energy supplier, and threaten to slap tariffs on any country that provides oil to the island nation, has left families facing lengthy blackouts and the threat that Cuba’s healthcare system could soon grind to a halt without fuel to keep hospitals running.
Trump has claimed he aims to punish the Cuban government, which he said last month constitutes “an unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US. He accused the country, without evidence, of harboring terrorists. Cuban officials have vehemently condemned the accusations.
Ocasio-Cortez compared Trump’s economic attack on Cuba to the catastrophe the US-backed Israeli military has imposed on Gaza since 2023, when it began its assault and humanitarian aid blockade in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. A “ceasefire” deal was reached in October, but hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces since then and Israel has continued to block aid.
While persistently claiming Hamas is the target of the assault—which international experts and human rights groups have called a genocide—the Israeli military, with US support, has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians and has bombed homes, schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure.
“What has transpired is that now it’s kind of become acceptable that the entire Western world will look the other way as they starve and deprive a people because they find political actors or political regimes in that country to be objectionable,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “What we are seeing here is the possible precipice of hospitals running out of fuel… We’re talking about innocent children, women that could be put in harm’s way.”
“It’s incumbent upon all of us to defend human rights no matter where they are,” she added.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, agreed with the congresswoman’s analysis.
“Gaza was not just a genocide,” he said, but was meant to further Israel’s goal “to destroy much of international law and the norms around the use of force in order to make increasingly inhumane use of violence and coercion against CIVILIANS permissible.”
Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, added that Ocasio-Cortez was “rightly picking up the banner of a rules-based international consensus” on human rights, which was abandoned by the Biden administration when it gave financial and political support for Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Ocasio-Cortez echoed the concerns voiced earlier this week by Pierre-Emmanuel Dupont, an international expert on sanctions law, who told the Cuban storytelling outlet Belly of the Beastthat the Trump administration was “posing the risk of imminent humanitarian collapse in relation to the lack of fuel, which may gravely affect basically all human rights of the civilian population there.”
“Sanctions should be expected to be limited to officials,” said Dupont. “They are not supposed to apply bluntly to the whole population—which they do. They constitute collective punishment to the extent that they hit each and every Cuban citizen irrespective of their relationship with the government or regime.”
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