Trump warns Cuba to make a deal with US 'before it is too late'

President Donald Trump has urged Cuba to make a deal with the US “before it is too late”, as he warned they would have no more oil or money from Venezuela.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by its ally Venezuela.

Cuba was a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, but has now been cut off from those shipments as US forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production.

It comes after US forces seized Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, last weekend, accused of drug trafficking and narcoterrorism charges.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges in a New York court on Monday.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!” Trump said.

“I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

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.

“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.”

Campaigners gather outside Downing Street to call on the UK government to oppose Donald Trump’s war and aggression against Venezuela. / Credit: AP

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.

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.

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

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