Madrid/The President of the United States, Donald Trump, insisted this Saturday that the Cuban Government “is not going to last much longer,” although this time he placed expectations much further than what the Cuban opposition expects, stating that results will be seen on the Island “within these two and a half years, even before that.”
Trump made these statements in an interview with journalist Benny Johnson, recorded during an event in Florida and released this Saturday. Asked about the possibility of the Castro dynasty continuing to lead power during the two remaining years of his term in the White House, he responded: “I would say it’s not going to last much longer. Look, it’s a failed country.” He then alluded to his promise to return Cuban migrants living in the United States to Cuba: “We are going to get people back there very soon.”
The US president compared the situation in Cuba with Washington’s strategy in the region, particularly with Venezuela, and hinted that his Government will address both cases successively. “Let’s finish one and then maybe take a look at the other one,” he said.
He also reiterated that his team follows the situation in Cuba “very closely” and highlighted the attention paid to it by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who, he said, follows the matter “extremely closely.” Trump linked that interest to Rubio’s family origins: “His parents are from Cuba.”
“I would say it’s not going to last much longer. Look, it’s a failed country. We’re going to get people back there very soon.”
Trump did not detail any specific action in those sentences.
The statements come after several similar messages this month when there are just a few days left until the legislative elections on November 3. On October 23, at a rally in Fort Myers, Trump said that American ships will “pass” Cuba upon his return from the war in Iran, that one of them would stop about 45 meters from the coast and then send Rubio to “close the deal.” He 27th of this month, In Texas, he joked about leaving Rubio on the island “by parachute” and assured that “he will solve it in about 15 minutes.”
Adding to this rhetoric is the judicial front: in May the Department of Justice accused Raúl Castro and five other soldiers for the downing of Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996. On October 19, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier presented a state arrest warrant, without the right to bail, for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, although its practical scope is limited as long as the former ruler remains in Cuba.
