Trump, Rubio say Cuba needs to see major changes ‘soon’

President Trump said Tuesday the U.S. will be “doing something with Cuba very soon” as the administration tightens its economic squeeze on the island’s communist leaders.

Cuban officials recently said they planned to open the country to foreign investment as Mr. Trump squeezes the government by effectively blocking fuel shipments to the island.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting by Mr. Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday, said the administration wanted to see more drastic changes.

“Cuba has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They can’t fix it, so they have to change dramatically,” said Mr. Rubio, who is a Cuban-American. “What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it. So they’ve got some big decisions to make over there.”

Mr. Trump is eyeing a change in Cuba after he raided Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro and extradite him to the U.S. to face drug-trafficking charges.

The president is deploying a so-called “Don-roe Doctrine” in which the U.S. is the main force in the Western Hemisphere and boxes out foreign intervention.

The U.S. has wielded a trade embargo against Cuba for six decades. But Mr. Trump ramped up the pain by threatening to punish countries like Mexico for any oil shipments to Havana.

Mr. Rubio said Cuba can no longer rely on subsidies from Venezuela or the former Soviet Union, so it must adapt.

“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,” he said.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is under pressure as a fuel shortage leads to rolling blackouts in the nation. He recently acknowledged engaging in bilateral talks with the U.S. about the way forward.

Those talks pivot on whether parts of the old Castro regime can remain in place.

Mr. Trump suggested in recent days that he has limitless options.

“Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it,” he said Monday. “You want to know the truth? They’re a very weakened nation now.”

The president said freeing Cuba from its communist grip would be a major boon for Cuban exiles in America, especially in Florida, who might want to visit their home country or return permanently. Mr. Rubio is a natural-born U.S. citizen, but both his parents were Cuban exiles.