Venezuela is Cuba’s main oil supplier, but following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces, Trump has successfully urged interim President Delcy Rodriguez to direct Venezuelan oil toward the United States.
“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday.
“Cuba has survived for many years on significant quantities of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump remarked.
U.S. intelligence has depicted a bleak outlook for Cuba’s economy and politics, but their assessments do not necessarily back Trump’s assertion that the island is “ready to fall,” Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three individuals familiar with the classified evaluations.
The CIA believes that critical sectors of the Cuban economy, including agriculture and tourism, are heavily impacted by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions, and various issues. The potential withdrawal of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, a long-time ally, could complicate governance for the administration that has been in power in Cuba since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959.
For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil would be catastrophic. From January to November of the previous year, Venezuela supplied an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, meeting approximately 50% of Cuba’s oil shortfall, based on shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
