US President Donald Trump has said that Cuba will no longer receive oil or financial support from Venezuela and claimed the US now protects Venezuela, following a US military operation that abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said on Sunday that for years the island nation had relied on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela in return for providing security services to Venezuelan leaders, but said that arrangement had ended.
“There will be no more oil or money going to Cuba—zero!” he wrote.
He also reposted a social media message suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, born to Cuban immigrant parents, would become the next leader of Cuba.
Trump shared that post with the comment, "Sounds good to me!"
Trump claimed that many Cubans involved in security operations in Venezuela were killed during the recent US military operation, adding that Venezuela no longer needs protection from what he described as “criminal groups” that had “held them hostage for many years.”
He also said Venezuela is now under the protection of the United States, saying it boasts “the most powerful military in the world”, and that Washington would ensure the country’s security in the future.
Trump urged Cuba to seek a new deal with the US, warning that it should act “before it is too late.”
Under a US trade embargo, Havana, since 2000, has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of a deal struck with Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
On January 7, days after the Venezuela operation, he named Cuba among possible future targets of his administration, saying the Caribbean nation “is ready to fall.”
