Cuba's Economic and Political Crisis

Is Cuba about to fall, and can you update us on Venezuela?

Well, the truth is Cuba's already fallen.

It, it's not a-- It doesn't have a functional economy,

and it's governed by people

who continue to, uh, preach about some revolution

that has been dead

for twenty years. It's never worked, and that's the problem they have.

The problem that Cuba has basically right now is it is, it, it, it is a failed

state in every sense of the word. Now, they may have a government that's capable

of

jailing and killing people. They have a, a regime that's capable of, of...

and has jailed and killed people, but it's not a functional government,

and it's

not a functional country. It just simply isn't.

And in addition to that, it's one that's fueled by corruption,

graft, and theft.

You know, the Cuban economy, there is no Cuban economy

that benefits the Cuban

people. Anything that had a chance of making money in Cuba

was controlled by the

Cuban military and the Cuban Communist Party to line the pockets of a handful

of individuals at the expense of the entire country.

You know that since two thousand twenty-one,

at least close to twenty percent of

Cuba's population has left the country.

Has left it because it's a failure, a complete failure.

So we're hopeful that Cuba will choose a different path.

We're hopeful that the people that today sort of control the arms

and the,

and, and, and the, and the repressive regime,

that there'll be some people in there

that open their eyes to the reality of what they're facing.

What they're no longer going to do, as long as, uh, Donald Trump is president,

is

they're no longer gonna be able to steal money and make money off the backs of the

Cuban people. And what we're not gonna allow ever,

under any circumstances, as

long as President Trump is president, is we're never gonna allow Cuba to become

a

base of operation against American interests or pose a threat to our national

security. On that, we're abundantly clear.

As in every ca-- You can ask about any country

or any problem in the world, and I

will tell you that the preference of our president is to solve these things

diplomatically and in a way that you can reach an agreement

and get Cuba or any

country on a path to irreversible positive change that involves

economic freedoms, but also involves political freedoms.

In fact, you cannot have economic freedom in Cuba

if you don't have political

freedom first. You have to have both happening at least

at the same time.

That will require a period of transition.

Unfortunately, the people that continue there to chant revolutionary

slogans, too

many of them still believe that they could wait out this

administration and make no

changes or do nothing. They are wrong, and they will learn the lesson the hard

way

if they don't correct.