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U.S. President Donald Trump said no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to Cuba, and he suggested the communist-ruled island should strike a deal with Washington, increasing pressure on the United States’ longtime foe.
Venezuela is Cuba’s largest oil supplier, but no cargo has left Venezuelan ports for the Caribbean country since kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces on January 3 amid a strict US oil blockade on the OPEC country, according to the latest shipping data.
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“THERE WILL BE NO OIL OR MONEY IN CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE,” Trump wrote Sunday on his Truth Social platform.
“Cuba subsisted for many years on large quantities of OIL and SILVER coming from Venezuela,” Trump added.
Trump did not provide details of the proposed deal, but U.S. officials have toughened their rhetoric against Cuba in recent weeks.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump also reposted a message on Truth Social suggesting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become president of communist-run Cuba.
Trump shared this message with the comment: “Sounds good to me! »
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected Trump’s threats in a post on X.
“Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one dictates to us what we do,” Diaz-Canel said.
“Cuba is not attacking; it has been attacked by the United States for 66 years, and it is not threatening; it is preparing, ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood.”
Earlier, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez insisted that “law and justice were on Cuba’s side.”
The United States “behaves like an uncontrollable criminal hegemony that threatens peace and security, not only in Cuba and in this hemisphere, but throughout the world,” Rodriguez posted on X.
Rodriguez also said in another article on X that Cuba has the right to import fuel from any supplier willing to export it. He also denied that Cuba received any financial or other “material” compensation in exchange for security services provided to any country.
Reporting from Cucuta, Colombia, Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti said that despite its provocative rhetoric, Cuba may struggle to find alternative sources of fuel.
“Cuba is going through a very, very difficult situation, with repeated power outages and fuel shortages on a daily basis,” he said.
He added that a U.S.-imposed oil embargo could escalate and push Havana to strike a deal with Washington.
Under the US trade embargo, Havana has since 2000 become increasingly dependent on Venezuelan oil supplied under an agreement with Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
As its operational refining capacity declined in recent years, Venezuela’s supply of crude oil and fuel to Cuba declined. But the South American country remains the largest supplier with around 26,500 barrels per day exported last year, according to ship tracking data and internal documents of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA. Shipments from Venezuela covered about 50 percent of Cuba’s oil deficit.
Cuba also relies on imported crude and fuel supplied by Mexico in smaller volumes.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that her country had not increased its supply volumes but that, given recent political events in Venezuela, Mexico had become an “important supplier” of crude to Cuba.
Meanwhile, amid Trump’s threats against Cuba, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said Americans generally want Trump to focus on the domestic economy.
“There is an affordability crisis in this country, groceries are expensive, housing is expensive, health insurance has increased,” she said from Washington, DC.
“This is a president who said he would focus on America first. We saw him bomb seven countries, … so in [Trump’s] base, they’re starting to see cracks because it’s not what he promised during his election campaign,” she added.
