{"id":9093,"date":"2026-01-11T22:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/01\/11\/trump-tells-cuba-to-make-a-deal-or-face-the-consequences-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T22:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:26:34","slug":"trump-tells-cuba-to-make-a-deal-or-face-the-consequences-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/01\/11\/trump-tells-cuba-to-make-a-deal-or-face-the-consequences-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump tells Cuba to \u2018make a deal\u2019 or face the consequences – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Donald Trump has told Cuba to \u201cmake a deal\u201d or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island that has been a US foe for decades.<\/p>\n

As Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela<\/a> and big beneficiary of its oil, braced for potential widespread unrest after Nicol\u00e1s Maduro was deposed as the South American nation\u2019s leader, the US president ramped up his threatening language on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTHERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA \u2013 ZERO!\u201d Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. \u201cI strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.\u201d<\/p>\n

He provided no details about what form such a deal could take.<\/p>\n

Venezuela is Cuba\u2019s biggest oil supplier but amid a strict US oil blockade, shipping data shows that no cargoes have left Venezuelan ports headed to the Caribbean country since last week\u2019s capture of Maduro by US forces.<\/p>\n

Dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security personnel were killed in the US raid, after which Trump said Cuba was \u201cready to fall\u201d, noting the island\u2019s deep economic crisis and that it would be difficult for Havana to \u201chold out\u201d without cheap Venezuelan oil.<\/p>\n

Earlier on Sunday, the US president reposted a message suggesting the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, whose parents were Cuban immigrants, could become the country\u2019s new president, adding: \u201cSounds good to me!\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate message soon afterwards, Trump said Cuba had \u201clived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided \u2018Security Services\u2019 for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of those Cubans are DEAD from last week\u2019s USA attack, and Venezuela doesn\u2019t need protection any more from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuba\u2019s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, vowed to defend the country against any attack. \u201cCuba is a free, independent and sovereign nation. No one tells us what to do,\u201d Diaz-Canel wrote on X, adding that the Caribbean island was \u201cready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some Republican US lawmakers on Sunday lauded Trump for his aggressive comments. Mario D\u00edaz-Balart, a US congressman from Florida, said that after \u201cdecades of misery, tragedy, and pain\u201d the regime in Havana was nearing its end.<\/p>\n

Caracas and Washington are working on a $2bn deal to supply up to 50m barrels of Venezuelan oil to the US, with proceeds to be deposited in US Treasury-supervised accounts \u2013 a test of relations between Trump and Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s remarks came after the US on Saturday urged its citizens to leave Venezuela<\/a> immediately amid reports that armed paramilitaries are trying to track down US citizens in the country.<\/p>\n

In a security alert<\/a> sent out on Saturday, the state department said there were reports of armed members of pro-regime militias, known as colectivos<\/em>, setting up roadblocks and searching cars for evidence that the occupants were US citizens or supporters.<\/p>\n

<\/gu-island><\/figure>\n

\u201cUS citizens in Venezuela should remain vigilant and exercise caution when travelling by road,\u201d the alert added, urging citizens to depart immediately now that some international flights from Venezuela had restarted.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the New York Times last week, Trump said he would like to visit Venezuela in the future after having claimed the US was \u201crunning\u201d the South American country after removing its leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at some point it\u2019ll be safe,\u201d the US president told reporters. But the state department alert exposed how volatile the situation remains after last weekend\u2019s special forces raid, during which scores of people were killed.<\/p>\n

Responding to the security alert, the Venezuelan foreign ministry said the US state department warning was \u201cbased on fabricated accounts aimed at creating a perception of risk that does not exist\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cVenezuela is in absolute calm, peace, and stability,\u201d the ministry said. \u201cAll populated centres, communication routes, checkpoints, and security devices are functioning normally.\u201d It said the government was \u201cthe sole guarantor of the legitimate monopoly of force and the tranquility of the Venezuelan people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Agence France-Presse<\/em> and Reuters contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has told Cuba to \u201cmake a deal\u201d or face unspecified consequences, adding that no more Venezuelan oil or money would flow to the communist-run Caribbean island that has been a US foe for decades. As Cuba, a close ally of Venezuela and big beneficiary of its oil, braced for potential widespread unrest after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}