Rubio: Cuba's announcements on opening to investment 'are not drastic enough'

Recent announcements by the Cuban regime that it will allow investment in the island by the diaspora "are not drastic enough," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Havana's government announced Monday that Cubans living abroad will be able to invest and have their own businesses on the island in several sectors, including banking.

"That's not going to fix things," Rubio added to reporters in the Oval Office, where he was accompanying Donald Trump at a reception for Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin.

The "honor of taking Cuba"

"Cuba is open to maintaining a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies" and "also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants," announced Cuban Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment - and nephew of the Castros - Oscar Pérez-Oliva, in an interview with the U.S. television network NBC News.

Trump said for his part that he aspired to the "honor of taking Cuba, in some way."

Next steps with the communist island

Asked about next steps with the communist island, Trump said, "They're talking to Marco [Rubio], and we're going to do something soon."

Asked about the possibility of an easing of the embargo on the island, in place since 1962, Rubio replied, "The embargo is tied to political changes on the island."

The Trump administration is pushing for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to leave power, The New York Times reported, citing four people close to those conversations.