Cuba issues brutal warning to Trump after president reveals takeover plans

The Cuban President issued a formal response after Donald Trump floated the idea of acquiring the country.

The US leader's threat was made on Monday (16 March) during a brief press conference on Air Force One, where Trump was asked about the riot that broke out recently in relation to Cuba's severe energy shortages.

Sky News reports that the protests saw demonstrators attacking the Communist Party office following blackouts in the region, which, themselves, were put into place in light of increasingly limited fuel supplies.

Cuba relies on imported oil to run power plants as well as their transportation system, a process that has been largely halted given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, which, itself, was sparked by Trump firing a missile at Iran last month.

Trump, 79, shocked reporters by claiming he'd do 'whatever we have to' with regards to the upheaval in Cuba.

A blackout has been caused in Cuba by the US energy blockade (ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP via Getty Images)

Of the US oil blockage, he added: "Cuba also wants to make a deal, and I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or ​do whatever we have to do.

"We're talking to Cuba, but we're going to do Iran before Cuba."

'I could do anything I want with it'

The following day, during a White House meeting, he hinted that his administration will 'be doing something with Cuba very soon'.

"Whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it," Trump continued. "They're a very weakened nation right now. It's a failed nation. They have no money, they have no oil, they have no nothing."

He'd previously discussed the possibility of enacting a 'friendly takeover of Cuba',

Trump was asked about the riot that broke out recently in relation to Cuba's severe energy shortages (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)

Though the Republican insisted he would resist taking such drastic military action until the US-Iranian war had subsided, his warning seems to have set Cuban leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, on edge.

Cuba's promise to show resistance

Taking to X, the 65-year-old vowed his Communist government would show 'resistance' in the face of any threat that makes its way over from America.

"In the face of the worst scenario, Cuba is accompanied by a certainty: any external aggressor will clash with an impregnable resistance," Bermúdez penned, going on to explicitly accuse Trump of an overthrow plan with motives he believes hinge on exploiting Cuban resources.

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez shared a post on X (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

He also noted that the US leader has threatened to 'take' Cuba 'almost daily', claiming administration leaders have regularly attempted to justify this by referencing the country's weakened economy, which he said they've 'attacked and sought to isolate for more than six decades'.

Trump's threat comes just two months after his team enacted the controversial capture of Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of 'narco-terrorism' charges.

He later declared: "American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again."

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