Few people are more upset about Nicolás Maduro's arrest than the descendants of the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. (Well, except for maybe the Democrats in Congress and other white leftists in the United States.)
Current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has come out swinging against the Donald Trump administration's recent actions both in person and on social media. But while he talks a good game about "imperialism," his demeanor is anything but tough. The man is obviously terrified, and rightfully so.
"The imperialist desire is Venezuelan oil, it is the lands and natural resources of Venezuela," he said during a speech this weekend. He continued:
The imperialist desire is Venezuelan oil, it is the lands and natural resources of Venezuela. We neither accept nor recognize the Monroe doctrine, nor outdated kings or emperors. For Venezuela, and of course also for Cuba, we are willing to give even our own blood, even our own lives, but at a very high price. These are not times for half measures, these are times for defining oneself and taking a stand against fascism and imperial barbarism.
He then led the crowd with a "Down with imperialism" chant. And by "crowd," I mean what sounds like a government-mobilized turnout because I doubt very many Cubans could find the enthusiasm or the energy to gather on their own — between the fact that the country is still in the midst of several epidemics and the people lack food and medicine, it’s probably not easy to get a pep rally going without bussing them in or paying them, like Maduro used to.
“ We are prepared to give blood for Venezuela' — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. “ pic.twitter.com/OptG2Es1TC
— Nagi N. Najjar (@NagiNajjar) January 4, 2026
Related: She’d Never Seen That Much Food Before: A Hard Reality From a Farmers Market
The regime also put out a declaration condemning the United States' actions and demanding the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, calling it "blatant imperialist and fascist aggression aimed at domination" and claiming the U.S. seeks to "intimidate and subjugate the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean."
I guess Cuba's "Revolutionary Government" missed the part where Latin America and the Caribbean is taking a huge swing to the right and begging to partner up with the United States.
The regime has every reason to be worried. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio all but threatened it yesterday during the Maduro press conference, and Rubio doubled down on that language today on Meet the Press.
Host Kristen Welker asked if the Cuban government is the Trump administration's next target. He said, "I think they're in a lot of trouble, yes." But he also said he wasn't going to talk about what our future steps are going to be regarding that situation.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), who was born in Cuba, also made a statement today suggesting that "Cuba is next."
"Venezuela has been supporting the Cuban regime for a long, long time," he said in the video, which he posted on X on Sunday. "The Cuban regime is really on its last legs as far as I see. It's the weakest position it's had in decades. And so now, if you lose that support from Venezuela, it makes them even weaker. And then it makes it ripe for the people of Cuba to stand up and say 'we want change; we don't want to continue down this path.'"
🚨Cuba is next!
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) January 4, 2026
President Trump’s decisive action in #Venezuela will have an extraordinary impact on #Cuba, my native homeland which has been oppressed for over 60 years! 🇺🇸🤝🇻🇪🤝🇨🇺 pic.twitter.com/TOKGqdddez
Here's a quick recap on how the Venezuelan and Cuba regimes prop each other up: Back in the early 2000s, Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro formed an alliance, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), which was basically a communist/socialist anti-United Sates good ol' boys' club.
In the two decades since, those two countries' regimes have had a symbiotic relationship. Chávez and eventually Maduro provided Cuba with cheap oil. Cuba provided Venezuela with doctors and other medical professionals from its slave-like forced labor programs, and, more importantly, it provided the Chavistas with military and intelligence training. The Cubans taught the Chavistas how to protect themselves... from their own citizens.
As a matter of fact, on Meet the Press, Rubio said that Maduro's entire internal security apparatus was controlled by Cubans.
"He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards," he said. "In terms of their internal intelligence, who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors — those are all Cubans."
.@SecRubio on the Cuban regime: pic.twitter.com/dHmtMDGV90
— Department of State (@StateDept) January 4, 2026
Cuba's economy is already crumbling. The country experiences long-term blackouts daily, and without Venezuelan oil, which Rubio said has been "quarantined" from the world now, that's probably going to get much worse. Over in Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum has been sending Cuba oil as a "humanitarian gesture," but the Trump administration is working to curtail that too.
And I think something Gimenez said is something else we need to pay attention to. "It makes it ripe for the people of Cuba to stand up and say 'we want change; we don't want to continue down this path.'"
By now, you've probably seen videos of the Venezuelan diaspora celebrating Maduro's arrest from every corner of the world. The ones who have fled Cuba were right there celebrating alongside them because they are ready for change, and now they see that it's possible. Combine the heart of the people and the brains and the muscle of the Trump administration, and I truly believe that Cuba is next if this whole Venezuelan thing goes well.
Not only will we cover the downfall of communism in our hemisphere every step of the way, but we'll do it factually and without anti-Trump bias. That's something you can't get from the MSM. But we can only do it with your help. Every single one of of you who signs up to become a PJ Media VIP member helps keep conservative media in business. Please consider joining us today — it's less than $20 for the entire year and you get some cool perks for yourself too.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member