US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday again raised the spectre of US military intervention in Cuba, a renewed threat that takes on greater weight a day after the administration announced criminal charges against the island's former leader, Raúl Castro.
Trump said previous US presidents have considered intervening in Cuba for decades but that “it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.”
“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something,” Trump told reporters when asked about Cuba in the Oval Office. “And, it looks like I’ll be the one that does it. So, I would be happy to do it.”
Top US diplomat Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban descent himself, told reporters separately that Havana has been a national security threat for years because of its ties to US adversaries and that Trump is intent on addressing it.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who has long taken a hardline stance against Cuba’s socialist leadership, said the Trump administration wants to resolve differences with Cuba peacefully but is doubtful the US can reach a diplomatic resolution with the island's current government.
