President Donald Trump issued a warning to Cuba to strike a deal with the United States, as the communist regime reels from the cutoff of Venezuelan oil and financial lifelines.
In a post to Truth Social on Sunday, Trump wrote that “Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela.”
That economic lifeblood disappeared after U.S. forces moved in to arrest and extract Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro last week.
“Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last weeks U.S.A. attack, and Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump wrote.
“Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will. THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil is a severe blow.
From January through November of last year, Venezuela shipped an average of about 27,000 barrels of oil per day to the island, covering roughly half of Cuba’s total oil shortfall, according to documents from Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA.
Further, Cuba is undergoing one of the most dramatic population collapses in the world, according to independent demographic researchers, with estimates suggesting the island’s population has already fallen below 8 million, The Guardian reported.
That would represent a decline of roughly 25% in just four years, driven largely by mass emigration and long-term economic failure under communist rule.
Crumbling infrastructure, chronic food and fuel shortages, collapsing public services, and political repression have combined into a deepening “polycrisis,” fueling widespread disillusionment — especially among younger Cubans who see little future on the island.
Researchers studying Cuban demographics say the population is nowhere near the government’s own 2015 projection of more than 11 million people by 2024. Instead, migration surged dramatically after 2021, with an estimated 18% population drop between 2022 and 2023 alone.
Cuba’s official statistics office reported 9.75 million residents at the end of 2024, down 300,000 from the previous year, acknowledging what officials call a “profound” demographic shift, even as they stop short of labeling it a crisis.
Newsmax wires contributed to this report.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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