An individual watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photograph/Ramon Espinosa)
WEST PALM BEACH: President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off one other warning to the federal government of Cuba because the shut ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolas Maduro was deposed as Venezuela’s chief. Cuba, a serious beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been minimize off from these shipments as U.S. forces proceed to grab tankers in an effort to regulate the manufacturing, refining and international distribution of the nation’s oil merchandise. Trump mentioned on social media that Cuba lengthy lived off Venezuelan oil and cash and had provided safety in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!” “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump mentioned within the publish as he spent the weekend at his house in southern Florida. “I strongly counsel they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He didn’t clarify what sort of deal. The Cuban authorities mentioned 32 of its navy personnel have been killed through the American operation final weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two foremost safety companies have been in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as a part of an settlement between Cuba and Venezuela. “Venezuela would not want safety anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for thus a few years,” Trump mentioned Sunday. “Venezuela now has the USA of America, essentially the most highly effective navy within the World (by far!), to guard them, and defend them we are going to.” Trump additionally responded to a different account’s social media publish predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, might be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump mentioned. Trump and prime administration officers have taken an more and more aggressive tone towards Cuba, which had been saved economically afloat by Venezuela. Lengthy earlier than Maduro’s seize, extreme blackouts have been sidelining life in Cuba, the place individuals endured lengthy strains at gasoline stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst financial disaster in a long time. Trump has mentioned beforehand that the Cuban economic system, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide additional with the ouster of Maduro. “It is taking place,” Trump mentioned of Cuba. “It is taking place for the rely.”
