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Donald Trump<\/a> has suggested the US could carry out a \u201cfriendly takeover\u201d of Cuba<\/a> as tensions between Washington and Havana reach a new high following the capture of Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>.<\/p>\n As he left the White House for a campaigning event in Texas on Friday, Trump said: \u201cThe Cuban government is talking with us. They\u2019re in a big deal of trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he gave no further details, it has been widely reported that US officials had met with Ra\u00fal Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez Castro<\/a>, the grandson of 94 year-old Ra\u00fal Castro, on the sidelines of the Caribbean leaders summit, Caricom, as part of negotiations on opening up the island.<\/p>\n Trump on Friday said: \u201cThey have no money, they have no anything right now. But they\u2019re talking with us and maybe we\u2019ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n The president\u2019s comments come as relations between the two countries have sunk to among their worst in an often bitter 67-year history. The US has cranked up pressure on Cuba\u2019s struggling regime following their successful abduction of Venezuelan president and Cuba ally Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n In advance of the attack on Caracas, US officials won a promise of cooperation<\/a> from Maduro\u2019s deputy, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, now Venezuela\u2019s acting president, who has promised to open up the country\u2019s sizeable oil reserves<\/a> to foreign companies.<\/p>\n Pressure from Washington also led to the departure of attorney general Tarek William Saab and prompted Venezuela cut off oil exports to Cuba. The US has imposed an oil blockade on the island, strangling what was left<\/a> of the island\u2019s already parlous economy.<\/p>\n Trump said: \u201cI\u2019ve been hearing about Cuba since I was a little boy, but they\u2019re in big trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n Alluding to the large Cuban exile community in the US, he suggested a takeover of the island could be \u201csomething good … very positive\u201d for them, saying: \u201cYou know, we have people living here that want to go back to Cuba, and they\u2019re very happy with what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s acquisitive language will provoke worries among Cubans that history is repeating itself: US financial domination of the Cuban economy was one of the main drivers of Fidel Castro<\/a>\u2019s 1959 revolution.<\/p>\n His claim marked a startling departure from previous public statements. Cuban president Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel has previously said that, while his government is willing to talk, any discussions could not involve Cuba\u2019s internal affairs, and had to come \u201cfrom a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence, and our self-determination\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI reckon Cuba\u2019s Berlin Wall moment is around the corner,\u201d said Manuel Barc\u00eda, a history professor at the University of Bath who has family on the island he left in 2001. \u201cIt sounds like [US secretary of state] Marco Rubio has orchestrated a very impressive take down.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has long counted on electoral support from Cuban exiles concentrated in Miami who have dreamed of overthrowing the island\u2019s Communist government established by Castro.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s comments come just a few days after what appears to be a group of heavily armed exiles from Florida attempted to land a launch full of weapons on the island\u2019s north coast, causing a gunfight at sea<\/a> that left four dead and seven injured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n