President Donald Trump has issued a strong warning to Cuba, declaring the island nation would receive “zero” oil or money from Venezuela – after joking that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be its next president.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform early Sunday morning. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump added.
Trump’s plan for Venezuela’s massive oil reserve has started to become clearer in recent days. While the South American country has been Cuba’s largest oil supplier, after the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Trump convinced the country’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, to send between 30 and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S.
“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump wrote. “In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!”
Trump’s stern warning on social media came after the president shared a screenshot of another person’s lighthearted post reading, “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba.” To which Trump added, “Sounds good to me!”
The Secretary of State’s popularity – and odds of becoming the next president – have soared since U.S. forces captured the Venezuelan leader.
The chances of Rubio becoming the next president went from just 4 percent last month to 9 percent last Monday, according to Polymarket.
Rubio, however, still lags dramatically behind Vice President JD Vance in the race to be Trump’s successor on the Republican ticket, with Vance ahead of him with 30 percent chances.
All eyes have been on Cuba in the days since U.S. forces extradited the Venezuelan leader, as the two countries are close allies and trading partners.
Since the capture of Maduro last weekend, Republican leaders have signaled that Cuba’s communist regime may soon fall. While U.S. intelligence has suggested Cuba’s political and economic situation is dire, its assessment has shown no clear support for Trump’s prediction that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.
A day after the U.S. captured Maduro, Rubio issued a warning to Cuba, telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he thinks the country is “in a lot of trouble.”
“I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our polices are going to be right now in this regard,” Rubio said. “But I don’ think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro.”
Meanwhile, the loss of Venezuelan oil has been devastating for Cuba.
Between January and November last year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels a day to the island, accounting for about 50 percent of the country’s oil deficit, according to data from the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.
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