Marco Rubio suggests Cuba may be next after Venezuela strike

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hinting that Cuba could be the next target of the Trump administration’s push to restore American dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

Rubio said he would be a bit concerned if he were a Cuban government official following the overnight U.S. military operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

“If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned at least a little bit,” said Rubio, who has had a long preoccupation with both Venezuela and Cuba.

The U.S. has had a long history of military interventions in Latin America, including its tacit support for the unsuccessful 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion led by Cuban exiles aimed at toppling Fidel Castro

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the attack on Venezuela as criminal and warned that Latin America is not the “backyard” where the United States does as it pleases.

“Its attack on Venezuela shatters the stability that has characterized our region for years,” the president said during a rally that drew thousands of people in Havana. “The attack in the early morning hours against a peaceful and noble people can only be described as cowardly, criminal, and treacherous.” He also demanded proof of life for Maduro.

According to the Cuban leader, the attack is not intended to end drug trafficking — for which no evidence implicating Maduro was presented — but rather to seize Venezuela’s oil and natural resources through an act of “state terrorism,” which he likened to the Israeli attack on Gaza.

The rally in Havana took place at the so-called Anti-Imperialist Tribune, located across from the U.S. Embassy.

____

Republished with permission of the Associated Press.