LAST UPDATE | 7 Mar

AS WAR RAGES in the Middle East, US President Donald Trump told several Latin American allies that Cuba is in its “last moments of life” and a “great change” is coming to the nation.

Trump is in Dorel in Florida attending the Shield of the Americas summit, which is hosted at Trump National Dorel Miami, one of the President’s hotel and golf resorts. In attendance are conservative leaders of Latin American countries. 

“I’ll take care of Cuba,” Trump told a dozen leaders at the summit, that did not include officials from Havana.

“They have no money, they have no oil. They have a bad philosophy, they have a bad regime that’s been bad for a long time,” the US president said, adding, “Cuba’s in its last moments of life.”

President Donald Trump listens while Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at the Shield of the Americas Summit. AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell AP Photo / Rebecca Blackwell / Rebecca Blackwell

Trump yesterday told CNN that the nation was “gonna fall pretty soon”.

“Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon, by the way, unrelated, but Cuba is gonna fall too. They want to make a deal so badly,” he told CNN in a phone interview.

“They want to make a deal, and so I’m going to put Marco [Rubio] over there and we’ll see how that works out. We’re really focused on this one right now. We’ve got plenty of time, but Cuba’s ready — after 50 years.”

Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, has been named on the so-called “Board of Peace” Trump wants to manage Gaza. His name was also one of the few the president mentioned when discussing who would run Venezuela.

Cuba, a communist-run nation, has been suffering from extensive blackouts and issues with its electricity grid, as well as dwindling oil reserves since the US attack on Venezuela.

Also at the summit today, Trump told the leaders he would support them in striking cartels across Latin America.

He formally launched a 17-nation “counter cartel” coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use “hard power” against security threats.

“We’re working with you to do whatever we have to do. We’ll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They’re extremely accurate,” Trump told the dozen leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club.

“‘Piu,’ right into the living room,” he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. “That’s the end of that cartel person. But we’ll do whatever you need.”

Additional reporting by AFP