Trump scales back his threats against Cuba

US President Donald Trump is backing away from his threats of violent US regime change in Cuba. On Saturday he promised "that Cuba and we will reach an agreement" and assured: "I don't think we will need the military." Trump added to journalists that he wanted to help Cuba and open the island to US citizens.

A few days earlier, Trump had described Cuba as a "failed state" before the UN General Assembly and announced an imminent system change on the communist-ruled island. The state “will fall,” Trump announced in his speech on Tuesday. The Cuban delegation then left the United Nations meeting room in New York in protest.

On Saturday, Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez, in his own speech at the UN general debate, defended himself against the behavior of the USA, which is blocking oil deliveries to Cuba and constantly imposing new sanctions against the island. Rodríguez spoke of dramatic humanitarian consequences for the population on the Caribbean island, which is suffering from ongoing power outages and a severe economic crisis. He criticized the threat of military force against Cuba as a violation of international law.

"The US government is unable to accept that Cuba is a fully independent and sovereign state and has the right to be," Rodríguez wrote on X on Tuesday. However, in his speech to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, he said that Cuba was always ready for dialogue with the US government.

Thousands of containers of food are stuck in ports

The USA has been trying for months to force a change of power and an opening of the economy in Cuba with the help of sanctions and an oil blockade. In response, Cuba has already opened several economic sectors to the private sector. The plan is to transform the country into a socialist market economy along the lines of China and Vietnam.

Worsening energy and supply shortages have led to the worst economic crisis in Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to Foreign Minister Rodríguez, more than 7,000 containers of food, medicine and medical equipment are stuck in ports of other countries without being able to reach Cuba. The New York Times reported on this. Foreign companies are also being intimidated into giving up their investments and business in Cuba against their will, denounced the Cuban Foreign Minister.