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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday (local time) warned Cuba's leaders and said that "I'd be concerned" following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
He said Cuba was in complete collapse, and noted that Maduro's guards and the entire intelligence agency were largely composed of Cubans. In a press conference, Rubio said, "Cuba is a disaster. It's run by incompetent, senile men and, in some cases, not seen now, but incompetent nonetheless. It has no economy. It's in total collapse. All of the guards that helped protect Maduro, this is well known, their whole spy agency, all of whom were full of Cubans." "This poor island took over Venezuela in some cases. One of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is that they have to declare independence from Cuba. They tried to basically colonise it from a security standpoint. If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned at least a little bit," he said. While President Donald Trump said that Cuba is "a failing nation" and criticised its system for causing long-term suffering, adding that the US aims to help both the Cuban people and those who were forced to leave the country. "Cuba is an interesting case. Cuba is not doing very well right now. Its system has not been a very good one for Cuba. The people there have suffered for many, many years. I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now. Very badly failing nation. We want to help the people in Cuba, but we also want to help the people who were forced out of Cuba and are living in this country," Trump said. Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in Caracas and flown out of the country in a joint operation involving intelligence agencies and US law enforcement, leading to heightened tensions and uncertainty. According to an unsealed indictment shared by Attorney General Pamela Bondi on X, Maduro and Flores face multiple counts of statutory allegations related to "drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies". The capture of Maduro comes amid rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela. (ANI)
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