Communist-run Cuba may be the next country to have an American-made regime change, President Donald Trump floated at a press conference addressing the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
‘I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,’ Trump said when asked if the operation in Venezuela contained a message to the island nation.
‘That system has not been a very good one for Cuba,’ the president continued. ‘The people there have suffered for many, many years.’
After Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism last year, Trump quickly reinstated the designation within his first days in office and reapplied economic sanctions.
The U.S.-Cuba relationship remains strained as the island nation is under a strict embargo, preventing goods from reaching the socialist state.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban refugees who fled during the nation’s communist revolution, doubled down, warning that the nation’s leadership should be worried.
‘Suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster,’ Rubio said at the press conference. ‘It’s run by incompetent, senile men.’
‘If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least a little bit,’ the secretary of state added.
President Donald Trump warned that the leadership of Cuba and Colombia could be the next targets after the U.S. military captured former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday morning. Colombian President Gustavo Petro should ‘watch his a**,’ Trump said
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Trump watch as U.S. service members carry out Operation Absolute Resolve in the early hours on Saturday morning
The U.S. military operation utilized approximately 150 military aircraft and resulted in the successful capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia, who are now en route to New York to face drug trafficking and firearm charges
The stern warning came after the U.S. military pulled off a daring operation to capture Maduro, Venezuela’s former socialist dictator.
Trump authorized a stunning mission overnight – dubbed Operation Absolute Resolve – which utilized 150 aircraft and hundreds of soldiers to carry out strikes within the South American country and capture Maduro and his wife alive.
The pair is now being extradited to the US, where they are set to face narco terrorism and firearm charges.
The extraordinary mission was a success, and Maduro, who has led the country since 2013 as a socialist strongman, was flown by helicopter to the USS Iwo Jima before he is set to arrive in New York to face prosecution.
The president said he authorized the operation around 10:45 pm on Friday.
Within hours, hundreds of U.S. soldiers were in the skies above Venezuela while Delta Force specialists barged into Maduro’s compound and apprehended the former leader and his wife after a firefight
Shortly before the press conference, Trump posted a picture of a blindfolded and handcuffed Maduro, who appeared to be in custody aboard an American vessel.
The Republican has in recent months also warned that other leaders involved in narco-terrorism could be targets of U.S. military operations.
Trump and Rubio noted how the leadership of Colombia and Cuba should be worried
Trump posted this photo of Maduro in U.S. custody
The president authorized the operation around 10:45 pm on Friday night. Within hours hundreds of U.S. soldiers were in the skies above Venezuela while Delta Force specialists barged into Maduro’s compound and apprehended the former leader and his wife after a firefight
On Saturday, Trump placed Colombia’s president on notice as well.
‘He has cocaine mills,’ Trump said of Colombian President Gustavo Petro. ‘He has factories where he makes cocaine.’
He remarked how the nation is sending its cocaine to the U.S., and because of that, Petro has ‘to watch his a**.’
‘Conclusion from today: Brazil had better get a nuclear program. Colombia may want to talk with Brazil about it. From what Trump is saying, they’re next,’ noted Bruno Macaes, the author of ‘Geopolitics for the End Time.’
On Saturday afternoon, thousands rallied in Havana, Cuba shouting ‘Down with imperialism!’ and declaring solidarity with Maduro.
Trump noted that he did not inform Congress of the impending strikes because it could have threatened the operational security of the mission.
He remarked how when he tells things to Congress, secret plans tend to ‘leak,’ and that could have threatened the lives of American soldiers.
Trump said at the event that the United States will govern Venezuela indefinitely.
‘We’re going to run the country until as such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,’ he said.
‘We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation as we had for the last long number of years.
‘So we are going to run the country until we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.’
Trump offered little further detail on the logistics of running Venezuela, which has a population of 30 million, but suggested the country’s vast oil reserves would be used to fund its revival.
The president noted how Rubio and Hegseth would be tasked with overseeing the nation in the interim, and that oil executives may be given control at a later date, though few details were provided on which companies and why.
