US President Donald Trump has called on Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified repercussions, cautioning that the supply of Venezuelan oil and funds to Havana would now be cut off.
The communist-led island close to Florida has long been an adversary of the US and a close partner of Venezuela, but Mr Trump has intensified his rhetoric in recent days – particularly following Washington’s removal of Venezuela’s left-wing leader Nicolas Maduro, reports RTE.
“There will be no more oil or money going to Cuba – zero!” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, before it is too late.”, reports RTE.
Mr Trump did not explain what kind of deal he was referring to, nor what such an agreement would involve, reports RTE.
His comments come a week after US forces captured Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Maduro in a nighttime raid in Caracas that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel.
A week earlier, Mr Trump said that “Cuba is ready to fall,” pointing out that the island’s economic troubles were deepening and that it would struggle to “hold out” without heavily subsidised Venezuelan oil, reports RTE.
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Earlier today, the US president reshared a social media post suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – the son of Cuban immigrants – could become Cuba’s president.
Mr Trump reposted that message with the remark: “Sounds good to me!”, reports RTE.
In another message shortly afterwards, Mr Trump said that “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!”, reports RTE.
“Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s USA attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” he added, reports RTE.
Cuba’s communist leadership dismissed claims that Havana had been under Venezuela’s influence.
Cuba has “never received monetary or material compensation for the security services it has provided to any country,” Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on social media, reports RTE.
He said Havana has the right to import fuel from any supplier willing to sell, “without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States.”
Under a US trade embargo, Havana has increasingly depended since 2000 on Venezuelan oil supplied under an agreement reached with Mr Maduro’s predecessor, the outspoken leftist Hugo Chavez, reports RTE.
Mr Trump’s confrontational language towards Cuba comes as the emboldened US leader has suggested that other countries could be next after the capture of Mr Maduro.
Mr Trump, who openly pursued last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has recently issued threats toward Colombia, Mexico, Iran and Greenland, reports RTE.
Some Republican politicians in the US have praised Mr Trump for his tough stance on Cuba, including Florida congressman Mario Diaz-Balart.
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