President Donald Trump on Thursday said past U.S. presidents have mulled intervening in Cuba for decades, but “it looks like I’ll be the one that does it.”
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“Other presidents have looked at this for 50, 60 years, doing something,” Trump told reporters during an unrelated environmental event in the Oval Office, when asked Thursday about Cuba. “And, it looks like I’ll be the one that does it. So, I would be happy to do it.”
He added that the U.S. wants to open Cuba “up to Cuban Americans, where they can go back and help.”
Trump didn’t answer questions about the aircraft carrier Nimitz having reportedly entered the southern Caribbean on Wednesday. Nor did he clarify exactly what he meant.
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Still, the president’s comments deviated from Wednesday, when the president was asked about a possible U.S. escalation in Cuba and suggested one wasn’t coming.
He called Cuba a failed country and said, “They don’t have electricity. They don’t have money. They don’t have really anything,” before adding, “We’re going to help them along.”
His comments came a day after federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles from the Brothers to the Rescue organization.
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