Trump threatens Cuba: Negotiate "BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE"
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PresidentTrump gestures as he addresses a House Republican retreat at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 6 in Washington, DC. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images
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: Despite the presence of Cuban soldiers during the U.S. operation, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez flatly denied providing security services in exchange for money or material compensation, asserting that "right and justice are on Cuba's side."
- Rodríguez blasted the U.S. as 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
