Trump warned Cuba

Washington (dpa) — US President Donald Trump urged Cuba on Sunday to make a deal “before it is too late,” just over a week after the United States seized the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, a close ally of Havana.

Trump did not specify what kind of agreement he was referring to in the post on his Truth Social platform.

“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,” he wrote, adding: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!”

The US president said Cuba had been providing security services to Venezuela in exchange for large amounts of oil and money.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected the claim, writing on X that Havana does not receive “financial or material compensation for security services it provides to another country and never has.”

“The US is behaving like a criminal and uncontrolled hegemonic power that threatens peace and security not only in Cuba and this hemisphere, but throughout the world,” he added.

Cuba receives oil from Venezuela in exchange for sending Cuban doctors to the country. Experts also estimate that numerous Cuban intelligence agents operate in Venezuela.

Cuban soldiers and intelligence agents were also responsible for protecting Venezuela’s deposed president Nicolás Maduro. The government in Havana said 32 Cuban security personnel were killed during the US operation to arrest Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on January 3 in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.