Overview
- Speaking to reporters, President Donald Trump said the Cuban government is “talking with us” and repeated that the U.S. could “very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,” without explaining what that would entail.
- The White House position, echoed by Trump, is that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is engaged in contacts at a very high level with Cuban representatives.
- Cuban officials publicly deny being in formal high‑level negotiations, though they acknowledged communication with U.S. counterparts after this week’s deadly maritime incident.
- U.S. agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard, are investigating Cuba’s account that a Florida‑registered speedboat opened fire on its forces, prompting return fire that left four people dead and others wounded.
- Washington’s campaign includes a late‑January executive order authorizing tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba and tightened maritime controls, drawing UN and NGO humanitarian warnings, with U.S. officials also indicating limited cases in which Venezuelan oil could be resold to Cuba’s private sector as shortages deepen after Maduro’s capture.