STORY: :: Doral, Florida / March 9, 2026
:: Trump says Rubio is 'dealing with' Cuba, which 'may not be a friendly takeover'
REPORTER: "Cuba, you said that Cuba wants to make a deal."
TRUMP: "Yes"
REPORTER: "What would the United States get in return for that? And why should Americans trust Marco Rubio to negotiate it?"
TRUMP: "Well, Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he's going to go down as the greatest secretary of state in history. Look at what we've done as a presidency. Look at what we've done as an administration. They trust Marco and sort of the American people trust he's been successful no matter where he's been. He also speaks the language, which is always nice and always helpful. But he's dealing and it may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn't matter because they're really, they're down to, as they say, fumes. They have no energy. They have no money. They're in deep trouble on a humanitarian basis. And we don't want to see that."
The Cuban government has said it is not in any high-level talks with the United States but has not outright denied press reports that U.S. officials may be in informal talks with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban President Raul Castro.
Cuban exiles who are largely concentrated in Miami have long dreamed of overthrowing the Cuban government or seeing it fall and have in the past plotted against the government that was established by the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
