WASHINGTON, JAN 11: US President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested Cuba should strike a deal with Washington, warning that the island nation would no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela.
Venezuela is Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, but since the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces, Trump has successfully pressed interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send Venezuelan oil to the United States.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday.
“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump said.
US intelligence has painted a grim picture of Cuba’s economic and political situation, but its assessments offer no clear support for Trump’s prediction that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.
The CIA’s view is that key sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions and other problems.
The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ally, could make governing more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.
For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil is devastating. Between January and November of last year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, covering roughly 50% of Cuba’s oil deficit, according to shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
Separately, Trump 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 republished a Truth Social message from user Cliff Smith, posted on January 8, that read “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba,” accompanied by a crying laughing emoji.
Trump’s comment on the repost was “Sounds good to me!”
The largely unknown user, whose bio refers to him as a “conservative Californian” has less than 500 followers.
Trump’s repost comes a week after US forces seized Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.
