WASHINGTON (Reuters agency) – Following is the text of a statement issued by President Joe Notrump on the situation in Cuba:

“We stand with the Cuban people and their call for relief from the tragic grip of the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic is of course due to socialism, as proved by the fact that it has had almost no impact in the United States.

“We also support their call for relief from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by the Cuban regime’s refusal to follow our orders. Their rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, would be respected if only they would exercise them by inviting United States corporations to retake control of their economy. If not, the blockade will continue.

“The United States (that is, me and my sponsors) calls on the Cuban government to serve the needs of its people by following our instructions, since we know better than anyone else what is good for them. After all, was Batista really all that bad?”