Trump rules out an “escalation” in Cuba and anticipates an announcement on the oil blockade
The US president said it is "a great day" after the Department of Justice filed charges against former President Raúl Castro
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, ruled out this Wednesday that he is going to carry out an "escalation" with Cuba and announced that he will "soon" make an announcement about the oil blockade that Washington imposed on the island.
"No, there will not be an escalation. I don't think it will be necessary. That place is falling apart. They lost control," he declared to the press upon returning to Washington after an event in Connecticut.
When asked how long the oil blockade that was imposed on the island after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela last January will be extended, the US leader said that “there will soon be an announcement.”
Trump gave these statements on the same day that the Department of Justice charged Raúl Castro, 94, in Miami for the death of four airmen from the Cuban exile organization Brothers to the Rescue in 1996, when he was Minister of Defense.
Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro's younger brother, faces charges of murder, conspiracy to kill Americans and destruction of aircraft, charges for which he could face the death penalty.
“I think it is a very big and very important day,” declared Trump, who recalled the great support he receives from the Cuban-American electorate in Florida.
The president said that the Cuban population in the United States “values” the announcement made by the country's deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, appointed by Trump himself, to indict Castro.
"We have Cuba in mind, it is very important. Many problems for many years. I think it was a very important moment," he declared.
The accusation against the Cuban leader, who stopped presiding over the country in 2019 and retired from the leadership of the Communist Party in 2021, but who continues to be a reference in the country's political apparatus, is a new step in the Trump Administration's pressure campaign on the island.
Since Maduro's capture, Washington has pressured Havana to undertake economic reforms on the island, while imposing a blockade that prevents the arrival of crude oil to the country and has threatened on several occasions to take control of the island.
The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, affirmed this Wednesday that the accusation against his predecessor is “a political action, without any legal basis, that only seeks to thicken” the argument “to justify the folly of a military aggression.” EFE