NEW YORK, March 13. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump’s strategy for Cuba aims to increase economic pressure on Havana to establish financial dependency on Washington, Bloomberg reports, citing sources.
According to the report, the United States is seeking to effectively assume the role of the island’s primary external patron. In particular, Washington has restricted oil supplies to the Cuban government, allowing fuel sales only to the private sector.
The agency notes that Trump’s allies believe current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is incapable of implementing necessary economic reforms. Meanwhile, the island’s authorities have declared their readiness for dialogue with the United States, but only on equal terms, Bloomberg stresses.
On March 5, Trump said that Washington intends to develop a further course of action regarding Cuba following the conclusion of the military operation against Iran. He had previously claimed that the Cuban government and economy were close to collapse after oil supplies from Venezuela were cut off under US pressure.
On February 27, the US President stated that the United States could "establish friendly control over Cuba." Later, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a telephone conversation with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez, called US economic and political pressure on Cuba unacceptable and expressed strong support for the protection of the island nation’s sovereignty.