Donald Trump has urged Cuba to “make a deal” or face consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money would now stop.
The US president has been turning his attention to Cuba since US forces seized Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro in a 3 January raid on its capital.
Venezuela, a long-standing ally of Cuba, is believed to send around 35,000 barrels of oil a day to the island, but Trump has said this will end.
“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!” he posted on Truth Social on Sunday.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Trump did not specify the terms of a deal or the consequences Cuba could face.
He also referenced the raid to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who are facing drug trafficking and other charges in a US court.
Cuba has for years supplied Maduro with his personal security detail. The Cuban government said 32 of its nationals were killed during the US operation in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
Trump said: “Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s USA attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.”
“Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”
The Cuban government is yet to respond to Trump’s latest threats, but President Miguel Díaz-Canel previously said the 32 “brave Cuban combatants” who died in Venezuela would be honoured for “taking on the terrorists in imperial uniforms”.
While the Trump administration has not stated clear plans for Cuba, the US president has previously said that a military intervention was unnecessary because the country was “ready to fall”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated last week that Cuba’s leaders should be worried, saying that he would be “concerned” if he was in the Cuban government and that “they’re in a lot of trouble”.
On Sunday, Trump also re-posted on social media a message suggesting that Rubio – a Cuban-American former Florida senator and the son of Cuban exiles – could become president of Cuba.
Trump shared that post with the comment: “Sounds good to me!”
The Trump administration’s tactic of confiscating sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers has already begun to worsen a fuel and electricity crisis in Cuba.
