WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said Cuba was a failed state and freedom would be coming to the island nation in a UN address on Tuesday that increased tensions with the Communist-run government.
Washington has openly stated its goal is to change Cuba's government, and a US-imposed oil blockade since earlier this year has put the country under severe strain as it contends with fuel shortages and blackouts exacerbated by failing infrastructure.
"My administration is also seeking a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba, where the communist regime is under great pressure — the biggest pressure they've ever been under. It's an absolutely failed state, it's failing like never before, and it will fall," Trump said in his speech to the UN General Assembly.
"Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba."
The Cuban delegation walked out of the UN General Assembly hall during Trump's remarks.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said later in a post on social media website X that Cuba will defend its sovereignty, and accused Trump of painting the country as a threat to justify its harsh treatment.
The US has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years and Trump's administration has been stepping up pressure, after using the military in January to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump has called Cuba a failed nation in the past, including in June, when he said the US had some very good plans for Cuba and will take care of the country.
Cuba has been a US antagonist for decades, since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Trump is strongly supported by hardline Cuban-Americans in Florida, who have pushed for US-instigated regime change for decades.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Paolo Laudani and Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Katharine Jackson and Christian Schmollinger)
