Rubio says Cuba needs to ‘get new people in charge’ as US ratchets pressure

Washington continues to block fuel to island nation, as Trump floats ‘doing something with Cuba very soon’.United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Cuba “has to get new people in charge,” and the administration of US President Donald Trump continues to heap pressure on the island nation.Rubio made the comment on Tuesday during an Oval Office event, saying Cuba “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US embassy in Venezuela reopens as Trump pushes for access to resourceslist 2 of 3Protesters in Cuba attack Communist Party office in rare riot over blackoutlist 3 of 3Cuban President Diaz-Canel says talks held with US amid Trump threatsend of listHe spoke as the US has continued to impose a de facto fuel embargo on Cuba since the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The threat of sanctions against any country that delivers fuel to the island has worsened a years-long economic crisis and stoked humanitarian fallout.Rubio said that Cuba’s decision announced this week to let citizens living in exile invest and own businesses in the country did not go far enough.“What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it. So they’ve got some big decisions to make,” he said.Rubio further said Cuba has survived “on subsidies” since the Cuban revolution in the 1950s, adding “the people in charge, they don’t know how to fix it”.“So they have to get new people in charge,” he said.Trump floats imminent actionFor his part, Trump, who on Monday said he could “take” Cuba, and has previously floated a “friendly takeover” of the country, said on Tuesday that a new action was imminent.“We’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon,” he said.Last week, the US and Cuba announced they had entered into talks to end the pressure campaign.Several US media outlets have since reported that the Trump administration is calling for President Miguel Diaz-Canel to step down, although no details have emerged about his possible replacement.