Why Trump's Cuba takeover plans could see a Castro return as ruler
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Trump threatens to seize Cuba amid the island's deepening energy crisis and blackout under US oil blockade.
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President Trump escalated threats this week to seize Cuba, telling reporters Monday he believes he'll be "having the honor of taking" the island as it faces a deepening energy crisis and island-wide blackouts following a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. Cuba's fuel shipments have halted for three months after the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and Trump's administration has threatened tariffs on countries providing fuel to the island, further worsening the crisis. Rather than pursuing wholesale regime change, analysts predict Trump could install a new leader while leaving some existing regime officials in power — a model he followed in Venezuela. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held secret talks with Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, a 41-year-old grandson of former leader Raúl Castro, and two other members of Cuba's ruling family have emerged as potential successors to current leader Miguel Díaz-Canel. All three candidates — Rodríguez Castro, 54-year-old technocrat Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, and 60-year-old former intelligence chief Alejandro Castro Espín — come from the Castro family or inner circle, potentially paving the way for another Castro to lead Cuba.
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