Overview
- President Donald Trump reposted a message that said “Marco Rubio will be president of Cuba” and replied, “Sounds good to me.”
- Trump warned there would be “no more oil or money going to Cuba” from Venezuela and urged Havana to “make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez rejected the U.S. claims, calling them criminal interference and asserting that right and justice are on Cuba’s side.
- The exchanges follow the U.S. raid that captured Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, an operation reported to have killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel and to have disrupted Venezuela-linked oil shipments.
- Rubio, who is secretary of state as well as acting national security adviser and acting archivist, is a central figure in the Venezuela aftermath, but there is no formal U.S. policy to install any leader in Cuba.