Barely a week after the US military attack against Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores on January 3, 2026, Trump with his usual bombast told Cuba to “make a deal or face the consequences.” Trump set his sights on overthrowing the Cuban government.
Led by Marco Rubio, Florida’s Cuban gusanera and US government officials always saw the toppling of President Maduro as a key piece in the domino effect required to destroy the Cuban Revolution. In fact, “Rubio has long sought to push out Maduro. … [His] calculus is that toppling Maduro will weaken the regime in his ancestral homeland, Cuba.”
Expert commentators William M. Leogrande and Peter Kornbluh, writing for Foreign Policy – a US establishment journal covering strategic foreign policy issues – on November 2025, months before both the US attack on Venezuela and the US naval blockade on Cuba, argued that “the real aim – of deploying the war fleet in the Caribbean Sea – is to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government and then, by cutting off the flow of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, fulfill the Republican right’s decades-long dream of collapsing the Cuban government.”
Leogrande and Kornbluh added, “It’s a strategy that John Bolton, national security advisor in the first Trump administration, tried without success in 2019, but Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio now intends to try again.” Prophetically they argued “if Washington manages to unseat Maduro, then his successor would very likely cut off oil shipments to Havana [cut off by the US naval blockade, actually], striking another blow to an already reeling Cuban economy. US success in Venezuela could also threaten Cuba’s national security if the Trump administration, intoxicated with the win, decided to expand its aggressive military interventionism.”
Rubio has played a central role in shaping Trump’s policies towards Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Rubio’s strategy fits nicely with Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine“ since it specifically (though not exclusively) targets these three radical governments with sanctions, threats and efforts to overthrow them for having strong commercial and political links with non-hemispheric actors (China, Russia and Iran), links that the “Donroe Doctrine” seeks to break by military means.
Trump’s failure to separate Venezuela from Cuba
No sooner had Delcy Rodriguez been appointed Interim President of Venezuela than a corporate media smear campaign was launched against her depicting her as a “Trump asset”, mendaciously alleging her appointment had been the result of “prolonged negotiations” or that she had participated in meetings with others to conspire to betray President Maduro leading to his kidnapping.
This Trumpian tactic aims obviously at dividing Chavismo. On January 14, 2026, Trump doubled-down by referring to Delcy Rodriguez as a “terrific person“. But previously, on January 4, 2026, he had posted “she is willing to do what is necessary” and comply with US wishes – or else she could face a “very big price”. An “asset” that needs to be threatened with lethal force?
This narrative deliberately created the impression that Delcy Rodriguez would not only distance Venezuela from Cuba but would completely abandon it to its own fate at the mercy of a bullish Hegemon that is threatening Cuba with “serious consequences“ if it did not surrender.
However, despite the dangerous situation Delcy Rodriguez’s government faces, which has led her to make some unpalatable policy adjustments and receive unsavory US visitors, Bolivarian solidarity with Cuba, though practically constrained – no oil shipments – has remained strong.
Delcy Rodriguez government’s first political act was to pay tribute to the 32 Cuban combatants who gave their lives whilst carrying out cooperation and defense missions in Venezuela. Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yván Gil, issued a statement on January 4, 2026 praising the 32 Cuban heroes who died as “a consequence of the criminal and infamous attack perpetrated by the Government of the United States against Venezuelan territory.” Gil thanked Cuba’s President Diaz-Canel and Raul Castro for their support and solidarity, adding that the combatants’ “sacrifice strengthen the historic links of fraternity, sovereignty and shared struggle of [Cuba and Venezuela]”.
On January 11, 2026, Trump’s renewed threats against Cuba: “there will be no more oil or money for Cuba. Zero!”, adding “Cuba lived for many years, on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, but not anymore!” Venezuela’s unambiguous response, issued on the same day, reaffirmed its right to the long-standing relations with Cuba in accordance with the UN principle of the “**free exercise of self-determination and national sovereignty”; relations historically based on “brotherhood, solidarity, cooperation, and complementarity.”
On January 23, 2026, President Diaz-Canel reaffirmed support and solidarity with Venezuela and its people by strongly condemning the United States’ military aggression against Venezuela and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Diaz-Canel stressed Cuba’s decision to continue strengthening the historic bonds of brotherhood and cooperation that unites both nations.
Venezuela’s unbreakable solidarity with Cuba
Trump is, however, determined to do “regime change” in Cuba and increased the pressure with more sanctions. His Executive Order declared that “the policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat … to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” The E.O. threatened to apply tariffs against any country that dared to sell oil to Cuba. Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned Trump’s decision seeking to impose punitive measures on countries that maintain legitimate trade relations with Cuba. The foreign minister’s statement expressed Venezuela’s “solidarity with the people of Cuba” and called “on the international community to take collective action to address the humanitarian consequences arising from acts of aggression of this nature.”
In February 2026, after further threats against Cuba, including a US naval blockade, a solidarity campaign – “Love is paid with love”, title of José Marti’s famous play – was launched in Venezuela. It seeks to raise awareness about the defense of Latin America as a Zone of Peace and opposes militarization and foreign interference. The national campaign has three stages:
- Saving Lives: aimed at collecting medicines, health inputs and medical equipment;
- Light and Hope for Our Brothers and Sisters: that will seek donations from organizations, political parties, and citizens to purchase solar panel systems to be installed (in hospitals, schools, laboratories) as decided by the Cuban government; and
- Corn from the Patria Grande: to collect non-perishable foodstuffs and arrange vessels for the sea transport to Havana.
On April 18, 2026 Bolivarian Venezuela went further by hosting “A Song for Cuba“ to protest the US blockade. The concert, part of the “Love Is Paid with Love” campaign, was organized by the Simon Bolivar Cultural Brigade Institute for Peace, the University of Communications, and the Future Movement. The PSUV, the Venezuela-Cuba Mutual Friendship and Solidarity Movement, and ALBA Movements also participated.
The concert brought together prominent singers and artists, such as Grupo Madera (Venezuelan and Caribbean folk rhythms and political lyrics), Elena Gil, Iván Pérez Rossi, the Barlovento Black Theatre, and soloists such as Marta Doudiers, the troubadour Leonel Ruiz, as well as members of the Simón Bolívar Cultural Brigade, all paying tribute to Cuban resistance. The funds raised will finance the installation of solar panel systems in Cuba. Cuba’s ambassador to Venezuela, Jorge Luis Mayo Fernández, was in attendance.
On May 1, 2026, Trump imposed further sanctions ratcheting up the pressure against the besieged island. Trump’s new E.O. included more restrictions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It imposes new sanctions on entities, persons, or affiliates that support Cuba’s security apparatus. It also authorizes new sanctions on covered persons, entities, or financial institutions that have conducted or facilitated transactions with persons or entities sanctioned under the order.
On May 7, 2026, the US “sanctioned the Business Administration Group (GAESA, a mega Cuban state company), its director Ania Lastres, and the mining company Moa Nickel, a joint venture with the Canadian firm Sherritt International.” Sherritt announced “the immediate suspension of its direct participation in joint ventures in Cuba, exacerbating the economic impact of the U.S. sanctions on strategic sectors.” Marco Rubio said the sanction aims to deprive the Cuban government access to “illicit” assets, “claiming that this mining joint venture benefits from assets expropriated from U.S. corporations after the Cuban Revolution.”
One day later (May 8, 2026), a “shipment of nearly six tons of food from Venezuela arrived in Havana as part of the “Love Is Paid With Love” campaign. It was the sixth such shipment. This was in addition to a shipment of 25 tons of food and medicine from Venezuela that arrived in Cuba sent in April 26. “Shipments are coordinated through collection centers in all 24 Venezuela states and are transported by [Venezuela’s] airline Conviasa.”
US aggression against Cuba continues
Trump is persistently threatening Cuba with a military takeover. It is clear Trump’s aggression against socialist Cuba seeks to “subdue the Cuban population through starvation and desperation.” US sanctions and the oil blockade “have undermined the Cuban energy system, and thus impacted Cuba’s ability to care for the sick, pregnant women, newborns, and people requiring surgery, not to mention the millions affected by the paralysis of the productive, commercial, and food systems on a small island of just over 10,000,000 inhabitants that bears the brunt of pressure from the world’s most powerful country.”
As with other US imperialist endeavors, the US would relish Cuba’s economic collapse triggering a massive humanitarian crisis, no matter how high the number of casualties. In this regard, a survey “revealed that one in three Cuban households reported hunger in 2025, an increase of 9.3 percentage points compared to the previous year.” According to the Food Monitor Program, by April 2026, “96.91% of the population lacked adequate access to food.” All caused by US strangulation of Cuba. Faced with such onslaught, Cuba’s President Díaz-Canel described the United States as an “aggressor power” and Cuba as the “island under attack.” Diaz-Canel insisted that Cuba does not fear defending its independence.
In case there was any doubt as to the strength of the unbreakable solidarity and fraternal links of Bolivarian Venezuela with Cuba, Blanca Eekhout, president of the Simón Bolívar Institute, stated: “The children of Simón Bolívar will not abandon Cuba, because our America is one. The destiny of one is the destiny of all, and the destiny will be one of victory, unity, solidarity, and love. … Cuba is hope, it will never be a threat; [Cuba] is dignity and example.”
Francisco Dominguez is head of the Research Group on Latin America at Middlesex University. He is also the national secretary of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign in the U.K. and co-author of “Right-Wing Politics in the New Latin America” (Zed Books, 2011).
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