Cuba defiant in face of 'criminal' US threats

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called out the United States for its "criminal behavior" in the Western Hemisphere on Sunday amid increasingly pointed threats aimed at Havana.

Rodriguez made this and other statements in an X post rejecting claims leveled by US President Donald Trump that Venezuela had been paying Cuba for security services.

Rodriguez's post also underscored Cuba's right to purchase oil from whatever source it might choose after Trump on Saturday threatened to cut the island off from all money and oil because of his claims that Havana had helped Venezuela's ex-president, Nicolas Maduro.

The US recently renditioned Maduro to New York to face drug trafficking charges in a special dead-of-night military extraction in the capital Caracas.

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With Trump announcing he will "run" Venezuela — and most importantly its oil production — as well as threatening, among others, Mexico, Colombia and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the eyes of many in the administration have now turned to Cuba, long a thorn in the side of US policymakers.

On Saturday, Trump uploaded an all-caps social media post, threatening: "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!" adding, "I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE."

Trump explained neither the "deal" he was seeking, nor the punishment that could await Cuba if it did not bend to his will.

"Venezuela doesn't need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years," said Trump on Sunday. "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."

Trump has said that Cuba is "ready to fall" and jokingly responded in the affirmative to social media chatter suggesting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who was born in Florida to Cuban parents — would soon become the president of Cuba. "Sounds good to me," wrote Trump.

Rubio currently also serves as acting national security advisor, acting national archivist, and has been named by Trump as responsible for operations in Venezuela and numerous other global hotspots.

Cuba has "never received monetary or material compensation for the security services it has provided to any country," read the Cuban foreign minister's X post addressing Trump's claims.

Rodriguez said Havana, which became increasingly dependent on Venezuelan oil after 2000 amid a crushing US trade embargo, has the right to import fuel, "without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States."

Cuba and Venezuela have had close ties for decades, with former leaders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez seeing themselves as brothers in arms against US oppression and interference.

Havana said this week that 32 Cuban military personnel were killed in the US attack in Caracas. They were in the Venezuelan capital as part of a security agreement between the allied nations.

Trump this week predicted that Cuba's economic plight will worsen with Maduro's departure, hastening the fall of the country's Communist government. "It's going down," he said, "It's going down for the count."