WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — On Sunday, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Cuba, as the nation, a steadfast supporter of Venezuela, braces for potential turmoil following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro from power.

Cuba, which has been heavily reliant on Venezuelan oil, now faces a cutoff from these resources as the United States continues to intercept tankers in an attempt to regulate the production, refining, and international distribution of Venezuelan oil.

Trump took to social media to assert that Cuba had long benefited from Venezuelan oil and financial aid in exchange for providing security, declaring, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump announced while spending the weekend at his Florida residence. He urged Cuba to consider negotiating, warning, “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” However, he did not specify the nature of the potential agreement.

In response, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel took to X, criticizing those who commodify everything, including human lives, and stated that such entities lack the moral authority to criticize Cuba in any respect.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said 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 also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro’s capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

“Those who hysterically accuse our nation today do so out of rage at this people’s sovereign decision to choose their political model,” Díaz-Canel said in his post. He added that “those who blame the Revolution for the severe economic shortages we suffer should be ashamed to keep quiet” and he railed against the “draconian measures” imposed by the U.S. on Cuba.

The island’s communist government has said U.S. sanctions cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of an American embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

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Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.