Photo: Alamy
President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Cuba to negotiate with the United States or face consequences, saying that Venezuelan oil shipments and financial support to the island nation would end following U.S. actions in Venezuela.
The president made the comments on his Truth Social platform, continuing his administration’s pressure campaign against Cuba’s leadership as Venezuelan oil stops flowing to the Caribbean nation. Cuba has relied heavily on subsidized oil from Venezuela for decades as part of a longstanding alliance.
“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! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” President Trump wrote.
“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. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he added.
Trump did not outline specific terms for a potential deal or describe the consequences Cuba might face if it refuses to negotiate. His comments follow a major U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, actions that have disrupted oil shipments to Cuba and heightened tensions in the region.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded on social media that the nation has “the absolute right to import fuel from those markets willing to export it” and rejected unilateral pressure from the United States.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also criticized the president’s remarks, arguing that Cuba is sovereign and will not be dictated to by external powers.
“Those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should hold their tongues out of shame. Because they know it and acknowledge it: they are the fruit of the draconian measures of extreme strangulation that the U.S. has been applying to us for six decades and now threatens to surpass,” the Cuban wrote on X, according to a translation of the Spanish-language post, Fox News reported.
