United States President Donald Trump says no extra Venezuelan oil or cash will go to Cuba, and he has urged the communist-run island ought to strike a cope with Washington, ramping up stress on the longtime US nemesis.
Venezuela is Cuba’s greatest oil provider, however no cargo has departed from Venezuelan ports to the Caribbean nation because the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US forces on January 3 amid a strict US oil blockade on the OPEC nation, in keeping with the newest transport information.
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“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly counsel they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE,” Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform on Sunday.
“Cuba lived, for a few years, on giant quantities of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” Trump added.
Trump didn’t elaborate on his urged deal, however US officers have hardened their rhetoric in opposition to Cuba in current weeks.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump additionally reposted a message on Reality Social suggesting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio might develop into the president of communist-ruled Cuba.
Trump shared that put up with the remark: “Sounds good to me!”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected Trump’s threats in a put up on X.
“Cuba is a free, impartial, and sovereign nation. No person dictates what we do,” Diaz-Canel stated.
“Cuba doesn’t assault; it has been attacked by the US for 66 years, and it doesn’t threaten; it prepares, able to defend the homeland to the final drop of blood.”
Earlier, Cuban International Minister Bruno Rodriguez insisted “proper and justice are on Cuba’s aspect”.
The US “behaves like an out-of-control prison hegemon that threatens peace and safety, not solely in Cuba and this hemisphere, however all through the whole world”, Rodriguez posted on X.
Rodriguez additionally stated in a separate put up on X that Cuba had the appropriate to import gas from any suppliers keen to export it. He additionally denied that Cuba had acquired monetary or different “materials” compensation in return for safety companies supplied to any nation.
Reporting from Cucuta, Colombia, Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti stated that, regardless of its defiant rhetoric, Cuba might wrestle to search out various sources of gas.
“Cuba goes by a really, very troublesome scenario with rolling blackouts, gas shortages every day,” he stated.
He added that an oil embargo from the US might worsen and will pressurise Havana to achieve a cope with Washington.
Beneath a US commerce embargo, Havana since 2000 has more and more relied on Venezuelan oil supplied as a part of a deal struck with Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez.
As its operational refining capability dwindled lately, Venezuela’s provide of crude and gas to Cuba has fallen. However the South American nation continues to be the biggest supplier with about 26,500 barrels per day exported final 12 months, in keeping with ship-tracking information and inside paperwork of Venezuela’s state-run oil firm, PDVSA. Venezuela’s shipments lined roughly 50 % of Cuba’s oil deficit.
Cuba additionally depends on imported crude and gas supplied by Mexico in smaller volumes.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum final week stated her nation had not elevated provide volumes however, given current political occasions in Venezuela, Mexico had changed into an “vital provider” of crude to Cuba.
In the meantime, amid Trump’s threats to Cuba, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane stated Individuals typically need Trump to deal with the home economic system.
“There may be an affordability disaster on this nation, groceries are costly, housing is pricey, medical health insurance has gone up,” she stated, reporting from Washington, DC.
“It is a president who has stated he’ll deal with America First. Now we have now seen him bomb seven nations, … so inside [Trump’s] base, they’re beginning to see cracks as a result of this isn’t what he promised on his marketing campaign path,” she added.
