Trump Warns Havana to Make a 'Deal'    01/12 06:20

   

   WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off 
another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces 
for potential widespread unrest after Nicols Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's 
leader.

   Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those 
shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the 
production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

   Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money 
and had offered security in return, "BUT NOT ANYMORE!"

   "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!" Trump said in the 
post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. "I strongly 
suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE." He did not explain what kind 
of deal.

   Hours later, Cuba's president, Miguel Daz-Canel, responded on X by saying 
"those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral 
authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way."

   The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during 
the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from 
Cuba's two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as 
part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

   "Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists 
who held them hostage for so many years," Trump said Sunday. "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 also responded to another account's social media post predicting that 
his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: "Sounds good to 
me!" Trump said.

   Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive 
tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long 
before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where 
people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island's 
worst economic crisis in decades.

   "Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this 
people's sovereign decision to choose their political model," Daz-Canel said 
in his post. He added that "those who blame the Revolution for the severe 
economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet" and he railed 
against the "draconian measures" imposed by the U.S. on Cuba.

   The island's communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country 
more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

   Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an 
American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

   "It's going down," Trump said of Cuba. "It's going down for the count."