HAVANA: US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to &quot;take&quot; Cuba as the communist island plunged into darkness under a total power blackout linked to a crippling oil embargo imposed by Washington. After nearly seven decades defying the United States, Havana&#39;s communist authorities are under massive pressure from a Trump administration determined to make history. &quot;You know, all my life I&#39;ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it?&quot; Trump told reporters at the White House. &quot;I do believe I&#39;ll be...having the honor of taking Cuba,&quot; Trump said. &quot;Whether I free it, take it -- think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They&#39;re a very weakened nation right now.&quot; It was one of Trump&#39;s most explicit threats and came as the Caribbean island of 9.6 million people grappled with yet another major power cut. The blackout resulted from a &quot;complete shutdown of the national grid,&quot; Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore electricity flow. Cuba&#39;s aging electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island. But since the US ouster of Cuba&#39;s top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3, the island&#39;s economy has been hammered further as Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade. No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector. In a bid to relieve economic pressure -- and meet US demands -- a senior economic official in Cuba announced Monday that Cuban exiles would now be able to invest and own businesses there. &quot;Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies&quot; and &quot;also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants,&quot; Oscar Perez-Oliva, who is foreign trade minister and also deputy prime minister, told NBC News. The New York Times reported Monday, relying on anonymous sources, that Trump administration officials have signaled to Cuban officials that the US wants President Miguel Diaz-Canel to be removed from power. Popular unrest&nbsp;The blackouts, as well as regular shortages of food, medicine and other basics, are spurring frustrations. In a rare moment of violence, demonstrators vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party last weekend. It was part of a new trend of protests in which people bang pots and pans at night, at times yelling &quot;Libertad,&quot; or freedom. Fourteen people have been arrested after the office assault in Moron, a town of around 70,000 people east of Havana, the regional party chief told state-run newspaper Invasor. The violence prompted Diaz-Canel to acknowledge in an X post &quot;the discontent our people feel because of the prolonged blackouts&quot;, including a major outage in early March. &quot;What will never be comprehensible, justified, or admitted is violence,&quot; Diaz-Canel said. The government has also rationed gasoline sales and some hospital services due to the fuel shortages. Diaz-Canel confirmed last week that his government had held talks with the United States. Trump has alleged the fuel blockade is a response to an &quot;extraordinary threat&quot; posed by Cuba to the United States. Trump said Sunday that Cuba &quot;wants to make a &quot;deal&quot;, which could come quickly after his administration has finished the war against Iran. &quot;I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,&quot; Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House on March 16, 2026, in Washington, DC (AFP)

Americas

Donald Trump escalated pressure on Cuba amid a deepening energy crisis, threatening to “take” the island as US policies choke oil supplies, trigger blackouts, fuel unrest, and push Havana toward negotiations and economic concessions.

Trump vows to 'take' Cuba as island reels from oil embargo

HAVANA: Cuba said Wednesday it thwarted an attempted armed infiltration from the United States, after its coast guard opened fire on a Florida-registered speedboat near the island&rsquo;s northern coast, killing four people and wounding six. In a statement, Cuba&rsquo;s Interior Ministry said the vessel was intercepted about one nautical mile from Cayo Falcones island. As Cuban authorities approached, &ldquo;shots were fired from the illegal speedboat,&rdquo; injuring the commander of the Cuban patrol craft. &ldquo;As a result of the clash, at the time of this report, on the foreign side, four aggressors were killed and six others were wounded,&rdquo; the ministry said, adding that the injured were evacuated and provided medical assistance. The ministry said assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails and other military-style equipment were recovered from the vessel, registered in Florida under the number FL7726SH. The 10 occupants were identified as Cubans living in the United States. Those arrested after the exchange of gunfire claimed they &ldquo;intended to carry out an infiltration for the purposes of terrorism,&rdquo; according to Cuban authorities. In a subsequent statement, the ministry released the names of seven of the individuals and said most had prior records in Cuba for &ldquo;criminal and violent activity.&rdquo; &nbsp;A man allegedly sent from the United States to participate in the operation was arrested on Cuban soil and confessed, it added. The incident marks a fresh source of tension between Havana and Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States was seeking its own account of events and would &ldquo;respond accordingly.&rdquo; &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to base our conclusions on what they&rsquo;ve (Cuba) told us, and I&rsquo;m very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here,&rdquo; Rubio told reporters during a visit to St. Kitts and Nevis. &ldquo;As we gather more information, then we&rsquo;ll be prepared to respond accordingly.&rdquo; Florida&rsquo;s attorney general ordered an investigation into the killings. The state lies just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Cuba across the Florida Straits and has long been a focal point for Cuban migration. Cuban authorities frequently report incursions by speedboats from the United States into their territorial waters. Such incidents are often linked to people-smuggling or drug trafficking and have at times involved chases and armed confrontations with border guards. The shootings come amid broader strains between the two countries. President Donald Trump in January imposed a sweeping oil blockade on Cuba following the US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, a key ally of Havana. Before Maduro&rsquo;s removal on Jan. 3, Cuba relied on Venezuela for roughly half of its fuel needs. Facing pressure from Caribbean leaders concerned that severe fuel shortages could destabilize the island&rsquo;s economy, Washington later said it would allow limited shipments of Venezuelan oil for &ldquo;commercial and humanitarian use,&rdquo; provided they went through private entities rather than the Cuban government or military-controlled businesses. Cuba&rsquo;s economy, already weakened by decades of US trade restrictions dating back to the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro, has been pushed to the brink in recent months. Chronic shortages of food and medicine and daily blackouts have fueled an exodus of Cubans, many heading to southern Florida. Mexico this week dispatched two military vessels carrying nearly 2,200 tons of aid to the island, its second shipment in under a month, while Canada announced Can$8 million ($5.8 million) in additional assistance on Wednesday.

Cuban coast guard ships docked at the port of Havana on February 25, 2026.(AFP)

Cuba says it killed four and wounded six people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat, describing it as armed and planning a terrorist infiltration after an exchange of gunfire near its northern coast, escalating tensions with the United States.

Cuba kills four on US-registered speedboat trying to 'infiltrate'

HAVANA: The capture by US forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the killing in the operation of 32 Cubans assigned to protect him represent a major blow for the island&#39;s revered intelligence services, experts say.&nbsp;Fearful of betrayal by dissenters within Venezuela&#39;s ranks, the leftist Maduro, like his late mentor Hugo Chavez sourced his security detail in communist-ruled Cuba.&nbsp;But the Cubans proved little match for the US special forces sent by helicopter to snatch Maduro from a military compound after US jets had pummeled Venezuela&#39;s air defenses.&nbsp;Of the 32 Cubans killed, along with 23 Venezuelan troops, 21 were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials said.&nbsp;The remaining 11 were from Cuba&#39;s military.&nbsp;Experts consulted by AFP agreed that the key to the seamless execution of the US operation meticulously prepared for months, in complete secrecy was the element of surprise.&nbsp;But former Venezuelan military officer Jose Gustavo Arocha of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a US think tank specializing in defense issues, also suggested that Cuba had misjudged the threat.&nbsp;Cuban intelligence &quot;convinced the Maduro regime and its security agencies that the United States would never attack on Venezuelan territory,&quot; Arocha said.&nbsp;Former US intelligence officer Fulton Armstrong, who is now a Latin America researcher at American University in Washington, also pointed to intelligence failures.&nbsp;Chief among them, he said, was the failure to anticipate the attack and then to detect helicopters entering Venezuela&#39;s airspace.&nbsp;&quot;Even a five- or 10-minute warning would have made a massive difference for the guards and for Maduro,&quot; the former CIA agent said.&nbsp;US forces however, had a major advantage in the form of stealth drones, used to monitor the Venezuelan leader&#39;s movements in real time, as well as more advanced weapons and combat gear.&nbsp;Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba and Venezuela, argued that Cuban intelligence underestimated US access to &quot;insider cooperation in Venezuela,&quot;&nbsp; an informant within Maduro&#39;s camp.&nbsp;Citing sources close to the operation, The New York Times reported that a CIA source within the Venezuelan government revealed Maduro&#39;s location.&nbsp;The United States had issued a reward of $50 million for information leading to his capture.&nbsp;Aura of invincibility&nbsp;For decades, the Cuban secret service, trained during the Soviet era by the KGB, enjoyed a reputation for invincibility.&nbsp;Besides having foiled some 600 assassination attempts against late leader Fidel Castro, Cuba was reputed for its ability to infiltrate foreign intelligence services and recruit high-ranking informants, particularly Americans.&nbsp;The most recent case to come to light was that of Victor Manuel Rocha, a former US diplomat sentenced in 2024 to 15 years in prison after working for over four decades for the Cuban state.&nbsp;But Cuba &quot;didn&#39;t adequately read the Trump administration,&quot; said Arocha, noting that the administration&#39;s National Security Strategy unveiled in December clearly articulated Trump&#39;s goal of asserting US dominance over Latin America.&nbsp;Washington had regularly denounced Cuba&#39;s role, since the 2000s, in the Venezuelan security apparatus.&nbsp;The routine response from Caracas and Havana was that Cuba, in return for Venezuelan oil supplies, provided its ally with doctors and humanitarian workers.&nbsp;Arocha argued that &quot;so many years... doing the same thing successfully&quot; blinded the Cubans to Trump&#39;s willingness to defy diplomacy and international law, so they did not see him coming.&nbsp;The Republican leader stunned the world by ordering the capture of the Venezuelan president in what his administration said was a law enforcement operation that did not require authorization from Congress.&nbsp;&quot;All the capabilities of Cuban intelligence were blocked for the first time in the region... because their traditional methods became irrelevant against this new decision-making style,&quot; Arocha said.

US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in a surprise operation that killed Cuban and Venezuelan guards. Experts say Cuban intelligence failed to anticipate the attack, underestimated US intentions, and was outmatched by secrecy, technology, and insider information.

How Cuba was blindsided by the operation to capture Maduro

SAN JUAN: Hurricane Imelda was nearly on top of Bermuda late Wednesday as a Category 2 storm that forecasters warned was expected to bring potentially destructive weather to the British territory. &ldquo;Imelda&#39;s core is now moving over Bermuda, where hurricane-force winds, damaging waves, and flash flooding are expected into the morning,&rdquo; the National Weather Service in Miami said in an 11 p.m. update. Imelda was about 20 miles (30 kilometres) southwest of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 kph) while moving east-northeast at 29 mph (46 kph), the center said. A hurricane warning remained in effect for Bermuda, a wealthy overseas territory with strong structures that have withstood powerful storms in previous years. Imelda was expected to drop between 2 and 4 inches (5 and 10 centimetres) of rain across Bermuda and produce a dangerous storm surge that the hurricane center said could unleash coastal flooding. Hundreds of customers were without power ahead of the storm. Bermuda closed its public schools, government offices, and international airport on Wednesday as it deployed 100 soldiers to secure infrastructure, clear roads, and help at emergency shelters ahead of the storm. &ldquo;This is a dangerous storm system that could bring destructive winds, heavy rainfall, and significant coastal impacts,&rdquo; said Michael Weeks, Bermuda&rsquo;s national security minister. Deadly stormEarlier in the week, Imelda battered the northern Caribbean, unleashing widespread flooding in eastern Cuba, where two people died. In the province of Guant&aacute;namo, more than 18,000 people were evacuated, while in Santiago de Cuba, flooding and landslides cut off access to 17 communities where more than 24,000 people live, according to state reports. On Wednesday, more than 3,500 people remained evacuated in Guantanamo while crews began to repair damaged roads and bridges in the area. Authorities in Haiti said one person is missing and two were injured following heavy flooding in the country&#39;s southwest and northwest regions. Hurricane Humberto, which had been racing ahead of Imelda, dissipated on Wednesday after passing west of Bermuda on Tuesday. Its remnants were named Storm Amy by UK forecasters, who warned it would affect much of Ireland and the UK starting Friday. Beaches hit by dangerous swellsImelda and Humberto&#39;s remnants were generating dangerous surf and deadly rip currents affecting beaches along the north Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and much of the US East Coast. At least five unoccupied houses along North Carolina&rsquo;s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean on Tuesday, according to the US National Park Service, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years. This Atlantic hurricane season marks the first time in 10 years that a hurricane hasn&#39;t made landfall in the US through the end of September, according to AccuWeather, a private US weather forecasting company. &ldquo;This hurricane season so far is quite unique, with several close calls for the United States,&rdquo; said Alex DaSilva, AccuWeather&rsquo;s lead hurricane expert. Only Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall in the US earlier this year. He noted Humberto pulled Imelda away from the US East Coast in what is known as the Fujiwhara Effect, a rare phenomenon in the Atlantic in which two storms are so close together that they start rotating counterclockwise around each other. Humberto and Imelda were a mere 467 miles (751 kilometers) apart earlier this week, the closest distance recorded between two Atlantic hurricanes since 1853, according to Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist and storm surge expert. While the Atlantic hurricane season is winding down, DaSilva urged people to remain alert. &ldquo;We expect atmospheric conditions that could support tropical storms and hurricanes well into late October and November this year,&rdquo; he said.Hurricane&nbsp;Imelda reached hurricane strength on Tuesday, becoming the Atlantic season&rsquo;s fourth hurricane this year. Th<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; display: inline !important; float: none;" id="isPasted">e US&nbsp;National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted an above-normal season with 13 to 18 named storms. Of those, five to nine were forecast to become hurricanes, including two to five major hurricanes, which pack winds of 111 mph (178 kph) or greater. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Natural Disaster

Hurricane Imelda struck Bermuda with 100 mph (160 kph) winds, flooding, and power outages, after deadly impacts in Cuba and Haiti. The storm, alongside Humberto, also caused dangerous surf along the US East Coast.

Articles tagged with "Cuba"

Trump vows to 'take' Cuba as island reels from oil embargo

Cuba kills four on US-registered speedboat trying to 'infiltrate'

How Cuba was blindsided by the operation to capture Maduro

Hurricane Imelda descends on Bermuda with damaging wind and waves