JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Cuba to "make a deal" or face unspecified consequences, warning that the flow of Venezuelan oil and money to Havana would stop.
"No more oil or money will go to Cuba - zero!" President Trump wrote on his Truth Social channel, launching Al Arabiya from AFP (12/1).
"I strongly advise them to make a deal, earlier," he said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel rejected Trump's threats against his country, pledging to defend his country after Washington arrested the leader of his ally, Venezuela.
"Cuba is a free, independent and sovereign country. No one tells us what to do," President Diaz-Canel wrote on X, adding that the Caribbean island was "ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood."
President Trump's statement came a week after US forces arrested Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, in a night-time operation in Caracas that killed dozens of Venezuelan and Cuban security forces.
Earlier on Sunday, President Trump re-posted a message suggesting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio could become the President of communist-ruled Cuba.
President Trump shared the post with the comment: "Sounds good!"
In his own post shortly afterwards, he said "Cuba has lived for years on a large amount of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided 'security services' to the last two Venezuelan dictators, but not anymore!"
"Most of the Cubans were killed in the US attack last week, and Venezuela no longer needs protection from the thugs and extortioners who have held them hostage for years."
It is known that under the US trade embargo, Havana since 2000 has increasingly relied on Venezuelan oil provided as part of an agreement reached with Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
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