President Trump zeroed in on Cuba’s regime in a flurry of Truth Social posts Sunday morning, demanding it negotiate “BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
The big picture: Since the stunning U.S. operation that captured Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, the administration has threatened new international interventions.
- But after backing off Colombia and facing allied pushback over Greenland, Havana has emerged as the hemispheric target du jour.
Driving the news: Cuba, which Trump predicted was “ready to fall” after Maduro’s capture, will receive “NO MORE OIL OR MONEY,” the president wrote Sunday.
- The U.S. strike in Venezuela put allied Cuba, already strained by a sagging economy, in an even more precarious position and killed 32 of its military personnel, per the Associated Press.
- Trump wrote that “Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage” because it now has the U.S. “to protect them.”
- He added: “I strongly suggest they [Cuba] make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Zoom out: That warning capped a string of Cuba-related posts and reposts.
- The president shared someone’s X post that read “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba,” writing, “Sounds good to me!”
- He also shared a fake image of himself smoking a cigar in front of Cuba’s flag.
Between the lines: The administration has made clear it wants the Cuban regime gone, though Trump has seemed less eager for military action.
- Suggesting the collapse of Cuba’s communist government was imminent, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, “I don’t think we need any action.”
- But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the Caracas operation, “If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I’d be concerned.”
Zoom in: In South Florida, home to large Cuban and Venezuelan diasporas, leaders applauded Maduro’s capture, Axios Miami’s Martin Vassolo reported.
- Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-Fla.) predicted that Cubans and Venezuelans alike “can see a light at the end of that tunnel.”
Friction point: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez pushed back against Trump’s assertion that Cuba provided Venezuela security services in return for oil and money on Sunday and wrote that “[r]ight and justice are on Cuba’s side.”
- He claimed the U.S. “behaves like a criminal and out-of-control hegemon that threatens peace and security,” per a translated post.
Go deeper: Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine” sets U.S. on great-power collision course
Source: Trump threatens Cuba: Negotiate “BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE”
