U.S. President Donald Trump warned Cuba on Sunday night that it would be wise to move quickly to sign an agreement with Washington, saying that if it does not do so the island nation will no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela. Venezuela has until now been the largest oil supplier to impoverished Cuba, which regularly suffers from power outages and shortages of basic goods. The loss of oil supplied by Caracas, or even a significant cutback, could spell disaster for the island.
"Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided 'Security Services' for the last two Venezuelan dictators,” Trump wrote, referring to Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, who were surrounded by Cuban bodyguards. “But not any more! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week's U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. 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 therefore declared: "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."
Cuba has lived under a socialist dictatorship since the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959 and has for decades been subject to sanctions by the United States and other countries. In recent years it has repeatedly reported collapses of the power grid and shortages of basic goods, and Venezuelan oil has been one of the resources that allowed it to endure. Between January and November last year, for example, Venezuela sent Cuba an average of 27,000 barrels of oil a day, covering about 50% of Cuba’s oil shortfall.
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Residents in Havana sit in building entrances during another lengthy power outage
(Photo: Reuters/Norlys Perez)
Since the military operation in Venezuela a week ago in which the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Trump said he has reached understandings — also with the help of harsh threats — with Maduro’s replacement, interim President Delcy Rodriguez. He also said he forced her to effectively send all of Venezuela’s oil to the United States. After the operation, Trump said Cuba was now "ready to fall,” but officials at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency are skeptical.
Reuters reported over the weekend, citing three sources, that the CIA does expect a bleak period for Cuba in economic and political terms and assesses that this could indeed make it harder for the regime to govern the population. However, the agency cannot say definitively that Trump’s assessment that the Havana government is close to collapse has merit. In a statement last Sunday aboard Air Force One, Trump said: “I don’t know if they (Cuba) will hold up, but Cuba has no income now. They got all their money from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil.”
The fall of the regime in Havana has long been a dream of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, himself the son of Cuban immigrants. On Sunday, Trump shared a post on his social media platform that suggested — apparently in jest — that Rubio could become Cuba’s next president. Trump added the caption: “Sounds good to me!”
On Sunday night, a few hours after Trump’s post threatening to halt oil supplies to Cuba, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded, saying his country would not submit to blackmail or any form of U.S. military coercion and that it has the right to import fuel from any exporter willing to sell it. He denied claims that Havana ever received financial or material compensation for providing security services to any country.