President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a fresh ultimatum to Cuba’s communist government, demanding Havana strike an unspecified “deal” with Washington and declaring that no more Venezuelan oil or money would reach the island — days after the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro severed the oil lifeline Cuba had depended on for years.
Trump posted the warning from his home in West Palm Beach, Florida, saying Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal he was proposing.
Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the ultimatum hours later on X. “Those who turn everything into a business, even human lives, have no moral authority to point the finger at Cuba in any way, absolutely in any way,” Díaz-Canel said.
The confrontation marks a sharp escalation of U.S. pressure on Cuba’s government, which faces the abrupt collapse of its primary economic arrangement with Venezuela at a moment when the island was already experiencing what its government has described as its worst economic crisis in decades.
Cuba had been one of Venezuela’s most significant oil recipients, drawing on Venezuelan energy to help sustain its economy. Those shipments have been cut off as U.S. forces continue to seize Venezuelan oil tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country’s oil.
Cuba’s government said 32 of its military personnel were killed in the American operation that captured Maduro. Those personnel, drawn from Cuba’s two main security agencies, had been stationed in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between the two governments.
Trump dismissed the arrangement. “Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said. “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.”
Cuba was already under severe economic strain before the Venezuelan oil cutoff, with blackouts sidelining life across the island and people waiting in long lines at gas stations and supermarkets. Cuba’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.
Díaz-Canel railed against what he called the “draconian measures” imposed by the United States and pushed back against critics of his government. “Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” he said. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet.”
Trump, who had previously said Cuba’s economy would slide further without Venezuelan support, repeated that prediction Sunday. “It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.” He also responded with apparent approval to a social media post by another account predicting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would one day become president of Cuba. “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.