Is Cuba next? Trump eyes US intervention as Rubio says the country needs 'new people in charge'

The Trump administration appears to be preparing to intervene in another country's leadership, months after arresting Venezuela's president and effectively overthrowing the nation's government.

The Trump administration appears to be preparing to intervene in Cuba's leadership, months after arresting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and effectively overthrowing that nation's government.

Speaking Tuesday during a White House meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, President Donald Trump said Cuba is “in very bad shape” and that his administration will be doing something “very soon” with the island nation located about 90 miles south of Florida. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio elaborated on the president’s remarks, suggesting that Cuba needs “new people in charge.”

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“The bottom line is their economy doesn’t work. That revolution — it’s not even a revolution,” Rubio said. “That thing they have has survived on subsidies from the Soviet Union and now from Venezuela. They don’t get subsidies anymore, so they’re in a lot of trouble and the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it, so they have to get new people in charge.”

The comments come as Cuba faces a deepening economic crisis, marked by an energy shortage that caused an island-wide blackout a day earlier. Trump has also indicated that it would be a “big honor” to take control of the struggling country “in some form.”