In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said, “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 said that Cuba had lived on oil and money from Venezuela for years and had in return provided security services for the last two Venezuelan dictators. “BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. 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,” Trump added in his post.
Earlier, after the US military captured Maduro from Caracas, Trump said he believed the government in Cuba, too, was ‘likely to fall’ soon.
Talking to reporters on board Air Force One, Trump had said that a lot of Cubans were killed in the US raid on Caracas, adding that an American military intervention in Cuba was unnecessary because the island appears ready to fall on its own.
“Cuba is ready to fall,” he said. “Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They’re not getting any of it. Cuba literally is ready to fall.”
The US and Cuba have had strained relations since Fidel Castro overthrew a Washington-backed government in Havana in 1959 and established a socialist state allied with the former Soviet Union.
Marco Rubio as Cuba’s president?
Trump also ignited curiosity by sharing a post claiming that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio would become “president of Cuba.” Trump captioned the post on Truth Social: “Sounds good to me!”
The claim appears to be a social media exaggeration tied to Trump’s hardline commentary on Latin America of late.
Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies have also drawn a bleak picture of Cuba’s economic and political health, but their evaluations stop short of backing Trump’s claim that recent US military action in Venezuela has left the Cuban government on the brink of collapse.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has assessed that crucial pillars of Cuba’s economy, including farming and tourism, are under intense pressure, reported Reuters. Chronic power outages, long-standing trade restrictions and structural weaknesses have all taken a toll. The likely reduction in oil supplies and other forms of assistance from Venezuela, Cuba’s closest regional ally for decades, could complicate things for the leadership that has remained in power since 1959.