Washington, May 21 (IANS) President Donald Trump on Thursday signalled a possible shift in long-standing US policy towards Cuba, saying he wanted to help revive the island nation and allow Cuban Americans to return and invest there.
Trump dismissed suggestions that the recent deployment of the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier near Cuba was meant to intimidate Havana. Instead, he described Cuba as a “failed country” facing severe economic hardship and said his administration wanted to support the Cuban people.
“No, not at all,” Trump said when asked whether the aircraft carrier’s arrival was intended as a warning to the Cuban government. “Cuba — look, it’s a failed country. Everybody knows it. They don’t have electricity. They don’t have money. They don’t have anything. They don’t have food.”
Trump said the United States was prepared to help Cuba “on a humanitarian basis” and repeatedly praised the Cuban American community in Florida.
“We have the Cuban American population, much of it living in Miami, in Florida. That’s a great group of people, amazing group of people, industrious, they’re great Americans,” he said.
The President added that many Cuban Americans wanted to reconnect economically with the island.
“They want to go back to their country. They want to help their country,” Trump said. “They want to invest in their country and see if they can bring it back.”
Trump suggested that previous administrations had failed to fundamentally alter US-Cuba relations despite decades of efforts fundamentally. “Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years doing something, and it looks like I’ll be the one who does it,” he said.
He also said his administration wanted to “open it up to Cuban Americans where they can go back and help”.
–IANS
lkj/dan