“Many (Cubans) would like to at least visit their relatives, and I think we are close to achieving that,” the president told the media in the Oval Office.
14ymedio/EFE. Washington/Havana, 2 February 2026 — President Donald Trump insisted on Monday that Washington is in negotiations with the government in Havana to end the oil embargo on the island and that he believes an agreement is “close” that would allow Cubans in the US to visit their country again.
“Many (Cubans) would like to at least visit their relatives, and I think we are close to achieving that. The fact is that we are negotiating with Cuban leaders right now,” Trump told the media today in the Oval Office.
The president once again highlighted the harsh economic situation the country is going through due to the embargo he himself activated last week by signing an executive order that will punish any country that sends crude oil to the island with tariffs: “It is a failed nation, they do not receive money from Venezuela or anywhere else. It is a bankrupt nation.”
“I would like to help the Cubans who are here. As you know, we have many people who came from Cuba, who were expelled from Cuba, who fled Cuba.”
Trump also reiterated that “Mexico will stop sending them oil,” at a time when Claudia Sheinbaum’s government has said it will continue to send material aid to Cuba on humanitarian grounds while seeking “all diplomatic channels” to resume fuel shipments.
“I would like to help the Cubans who are here. As you know, we have many people who came from Cuba, who were expelled from Cuba, who fled Cuba. They arrived on rafts. They crossed shark-infested waters. I don’t know how they did it. And that was many years ago. Many would like to return,” added the Republican.
Trump already said over the weekend that Cuban authorities would be forced to seek an agreement with Washington due to the lack of oil.
Any agreement that Trump “closes” “will be good for the American people.”
For his part, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed that talks are taking place between Havana and Washington. Wright told Fox News on Monday that any agreement that Trump “closes” “will be good for the American people.”
“Trump understands that energy dominance leads to peace abroad, leads to prosperity at home, and energy dominance enables energy diplomacy,” Wright said, adding that the current US administration has “the ability to take a country like Cuba that was colluding with Venezuela and its corrupt government by providing security forces” to that South American country.
Cuba’s serious economic, energy and social crisis has been exacerbated since the island stopped receiving oil from Venezuela following the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States, an attack that the government in Havana strongly condemned.
Translated by GH
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