Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel addressed a rally in Havana in support of Venezuela, condemning Washington’s operation. Cuba-Venezuela relations are a deep, mutually dependent alliance forged by shared socialist ideology and anti-US sentiment, centered on Venezuela providing subsidized oil for Cuban doctors, military, and intelligence support,
President Donald Trump has told Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island..
As Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela and big beneficiary of its oil, braced for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as the South American nation’s leader, the US president ramped up his threatening language on Sunday.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
He provided no details about what form such a deal could take.
Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier but amid a strict US oil blockade, shipping data shows that no cargoes have left Venezuelan ports headed to the Caribbean country since last week’s capture of Maduro by US forces.
Dozens of Cuban security personnel were killed in the US raid, after which Trump said Cuba was “ready to fall”, noting the island’s deep economic crisis and that it would be difficult for Havana to “hold out” without cheap Venezuelan oil.
Rubio for president
Earlier on Sunday, the US president reposted a message suggesting the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, whose parents were Cuban immigrants, could become the country’s new president, adding: “Sounds good to me!”
In a separate message soon afterwards, Trump said Cuba had “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!
Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, vowed to defend the country against any attack. “Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one tells us what to do,” Diaz-Canel wrote on X, adding that the Caribbean island was “ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood”.
Some Republican US lawmakers on Sunday lauded Trump for his aggressive comments. Mario Díaz-Balart, a US congressman from Florida, said that after “decades of misery, tragedy, and pain” the regime in Havana was nearing its end.
Caracas and Washington are working on a $2bn deal to supply up to 50m barrels of Venezuelan oil to the US, with proceeds to be deposited in US Treasury-supervised accounts – a test of relations between Trump and Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez.
Trump’s remarks came after the US on Saturday urged its citizens to leave Venezuela immediately amid reports that armed paramilitaries are trying to track down US citizens in the country.
File : Members of ‘colectivos’ are seen outside Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela Christian Veron/Reuters]
In a security alert sent out on Saturday, the state department said there were reports of armed members of pro-regime militias, known as colectivos, setting up roadblocks and searching cars for evidence that the occupants were US citizens or supporters.
Venezuelan “colectivos” are loosely organized, pro-government paramilitary groups with estimated around 8,000 members nationwide, operating in various states but concentrated in urban areas like Caracas and Miranda, known for enforcing control and sowing terror, often with motorcycles for mobility.
