Trump on Cuba: Maybe it's a 'friendly takeover,' maybe not

(Patria) - US President Donald Trump stated that Cuba is in "deep trouble" on a humanitarian basis and that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is dealing with this issue, which may or may not be a 'friendly takeover,' Reuters reported.

"He is dealing with (it) and it could be a friendly takeover, maybe it's not a friendly takeover. It wouldn't matter because they are actually in... as they say, evaporating. They don't have energy, they don't have money," Trump told reporters at a press conference in Doral, Florida.

The Cuban government has stated that it is not in any high-level talks with the United States, but did not directly deny press reports that US officials might be in informal talks with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of former Cuban President Raul Castro.

Cuban exiles, largely concentrated in Miami, have long dreamed of overthrowing the Cuban government or its collapse and have in the past conspired against the government established by the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.