Trump predicts the fall of Cuba, warns Colombia and threatens Greenland. “I don't know if they will last”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is due to appear before a US court on Monday after being captured by US forces over the weekend, with President Donald Trump leaving open the possibility of another incursion if the United States does not get what it wants from the country's interim leader, Reuters reports. The American leader reiterated his desire to annex Greenland and threatened other leaders.
The White House leader on Sunday predicted that the Cuban government could soon collapse and threatened the Colombian president, a stark warning that shows his administration's increasingly aggressive attitude toward leftist governments in Latin America.
“Cuba looks ready to fall”
“Cuba looks ready to fall,” Trump said. “I don't know if they'll last.”
The remarks, made aboard Air Force One as the president returned to Washington, came less than 48 hours after the US military carried out a daring raid in Caracas to arrest and detain Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
The president dismissed the possibility that the administration would use US forces to hasten the fall of the Cuban government, explaining that Venezuela was Cuba's main economic backer.
“Cuba is only surviving because of Venezuela,” Trump said.
Many presidents predicted the fall of the communist government, and Havana survived the collapse of the USSR. Still, Trump's remark highlighted the extent to which his administration not only expects regime change in several countries, but openly hopes for it, even amid uncertainty over Venezuela's future.
“Don't ask me who's in charge (in Venezuela), because it's going to be controversial,” Trump said. “We are in charge.”
Trump has said he wants to rebuild the country, especially the oil infrastructure, before the election so the people can choose their own leader.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested that the steel and aluminum industries could be revived, to the benefit of the United States. For now, he said, he is willing to work with Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's interim president and vice president.
Trump, new threats: “We will launch a second attack”
Trump said he expected Rodriguez and the new Venezuelan government to allow the U.S. unfettered access to their country so U.S. forces could help rebuild.
But, he added, “if they don't behave properly, we will launch a second attack.”
The Trump administration says Maduro's detention was largely an effort to stop drug trafficking and hold him accountable for criminal charges filed in 2020.
But Trump said there were other factors, saying the raid was prompted in part by the influx of Venezuelan immigrants to the United States and the country's decision to nationalize American oil interests decades ago.
“We're taking back what they stole from us,” he said aboard Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday.
“Columbia is led by a sick man”
The White House leader also threatened Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, a vocal critic of the US operation in Venezuela.
“Columbia is also very sick — run by a sick man who likes to manufacture cocaine and ship it to the United States, and he won't be doing it for a long time,” Trump said.
Just hours after the Danish prime minister criticized Trump for threatening to annex Greenland, the president said the United States “needs” the self-governing Danish territory.
“We need Greenland for national security reasons,” Trump said. “The EU needs us to have Greenland.”
