US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Cuba on Sunday, saying the Caribbean nation must make a deal with the United States or face severe economic consequences, including the end of oil and financial support previously supplied by Venezuela.

In an all-caps post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He reiterated that for many years, Cuba had survived on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela, but that relationship had fundamentally changed.

Trump added that Cuba had provided “security services” for Venezuelan leaders in return for economic aid, but that this was no longer the case. The president said that most of those Cuban personnel were killed in last week’s US military operation in Venezuela and that the US would now protect the South American nation.

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Trump Signals Hard Line

The warning comes in the wake of a dramatic US military operation in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The intervention, which claimed dozens of lives among Venezuelan and Cuban security forces, marked a significant escalation in US involvement in the region and has upended long-standing alliances.

Cuba’s economy has long been heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil under a decades-old arrangement that helped sustain the island’s energy needs. With Maduro’s ouster and Venezuela’s ties to Havana weakened, Trump’s warning highlights increasing pressure on the Cuban government to negotiate directly with the US to secure its future.

Trump also engaged in a separate post endorsing a suggestion that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become a leader in Cuba, writing, “Sounds good to me!” in response to a social media comment.

Cuban leaders have struck a defiant tone, denouncing US actions as hostile. The unfolding situation is likely to further strain US–Cuba relations, with economic and political ramifications for the Cuban government and its people.

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