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Agence France-Presse

Cuba’s leader on Monday reacted defiantly to US President Donald Trump’s threats to “make a deal” or pay the price in the aftermath of key ally Nicolas Maduro’s ouster in a US military raid.
Trump has been ramping up pressure on Cuba, one of the few Latin American countries still run by an authoritarian leftist administration after Venezuelan leader Maduro’s capture on January 3.
“We’re talking with Cuba,” Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday, hours after urging Havana to do a deal to head off unspecified US actions.
The Republican president, who says Washington is now effectively running Venezuela, earlier vowed to cut off all oil and money Caracas had been providing to ailing Cuba.

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” he said, without specifying what kind of deal he was promoting or what would happen if Cuba refused to negotiate.
Cuba, which is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades, has reacted defiantly to the US threats even as it reels from the loss of a key source of economic support from Caracas.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel denied Monday being in talks with Washington, saying there are “no conversations with the US government except for technical contacts in the area of migration”.
On Sunday, Diaz-Canel vowed that the Caribbean island’s residents were “ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood”.
Cuba has been a thorn in the side of the United States since the revolution that swept communist Fidel Castro to power in 1959.

The deployment of Soviet nuclear missile sites on the island triggered the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when Washington and Moscow took the world to the brink of nuclear war.
During his first presidential term, Trump walked back a detente with Cuba launched by his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Immediately after the US capture of Maduro in a dramatic raid in Caracas, Trump stated that Cuba was “ready to fall”.
He noted that the island, which has been plagued by blackouts due to crippling fuel shortages, would find it hard to “hold out” without heavily subsidised Venezuelan oil.
The Financial Times last week reported that Mexican oil exports to Cuba had surpassed those of Venezuela last year.
Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a child of Cuban immigrants who is a sworn foe of the communist government, has long had Havana in his sights.


“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit,” he told reporters on January 3, after Maduro’s capture and transfer to the United States on drug trafficking and weapons charges.
Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump referred to the generations of Cubans, like Rubio’s parents, who had fled the island to the United States.
“Most importantly, right now, we’re going to take care of the people that came from Cuba, that are American citizens, or in our country,” Trump said, without saying how he would achieve that.
He also reposted a message that jokingly suggested Rubio could serve as president of Cuba.


China bought ‘legitimate’ Venezuelan oil from US after Maduro seizure, energy secretary says

China vows to ‘do what it can’ as US blockade leaves Cuba with just weeks of oil

Cuba warns airlines it’s almost out of fuel as US blockade tightens chokehold

‘Tracked and hunted’: US forces board tanker in Indian Ocean after pursuit

US-Venezuela conflict

Cuba’s president denies being in talks with US after Trump threats

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel speaks during an event held in support of Venezuela, in Havana on January 3. Photo: EPA

A bicycle taxi outside Parliament in Havana, Cuba. Photo: AP

People raise the Cuban flag near the US embassy in Havana. Photo: AP

Cuba defiant after Trump threat to cut off ‘oil and money’ lifeline

Cubans rally in Havana on January 3 in solidarity with Venezuela after the US captured President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of the country. Photo: AP

A Liberian-flagged oil-chemical tanker sails through Havana Bay in Cuba. Photo: Reuters

Trump says Colombia’s Petro to visit US, in abrupt switch from threats to diplomacy

US President Donald Trump (right) spoke with Colombian President Gustavo Petro over the phone on Wednesday. Photos: AFP

Supporters of Colombian President Gustavo Petro attend a rally in Bogota, Colombia, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Trump’s Venezuela and Greenland threats make Canada fear it’s next

In December 2024, US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself standing on mountain with a Canadian flag next to him and the caption “Oh Canada!”. Image: Truth Social/realDonaldTrump

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a press conference in Toronto, Canada, in December 2024. Photo: TNS 

(From left) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and US President Donald Trump speak with each other during the Fifa World Cup draw in Washington in December. Photo: AFP

Maduro’s fate in Venezuela hardens North Korea’s nuclear resolve

Illustration: Craig Stephens

Macron slams US for ‘breaking free’ from global rules after Maduro raid, Greenland threat

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to French ambassadors on Thursday in Paris. Photo: AP

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United States & Canada

Havana rejects ‘make a deal’ ultimatum as Trump vows to cut off Venezuelan oil and money to the communist-run island


Havana rejects ‘make a deal’ ultimatum as Trump vows to cut off Venezuelan oil and money to the communist-run island.


Cuba’s president denies being in talks with US after Trump threats

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Havana rejects ‘make a deal’ ultimatum as Trump vows to cut off Venezuelan oil and money to the communist-run island

Havana rejects ‘make a deal’ ultimatum as Trump vows to cut off Venezuelan oil and money to the communist-run island