President Trump endorsed making Marco Rubio president of Cuba on Jan. 11, the same day he dubbed himself “acting president of Venezuela.”
At a Glance
- Trump endorsed the idea of Marco Rubio becoming president of Cuba
- Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded “No one dictates what we do”
- Trump previously directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
- Why it matters: These statements signal expanding U.S. intervention in Latin America
Trump’s comments come about a week after his administration’s military operation in Venezuela’s capital, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a pair of posts on Truth Social on Sunday, Jan. 11, Trump made light of his recent talk about meddling with Cuba and Venezuela’s independence. The U.S. president’s comments come about a week after he directed U.S. forces to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, and days after Trump expressed a desire to take over more nations in the Western Hemisphere.
In the early hours of Jan. 11, Trump posted a screenshot of an X post, in which a user joked that Secretary of State Marco Rubio “will be the president of Cuba.” Trump wrote in the post, “Sounds good to me!”
Hours later, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote in a post on X, “No one dictates what we do,” seemingly a response to another of Trump’s Jan. 11 Truth Social posts, which urged Cuba to make an oil deal “before it’s too late.”
Later that evening, Trump turned his sights back to Venezuela when he shared an edited screenshot of his Wikipedia page, in which “Acting President of Venezuela” had been added to his political repertoire. His actual Wikipedia page does not show the addition.
Following Maduro’s capture on Jan. 3, Trump stated that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for a temporary period of time. Rubio later clarified on Jan. 4 that the U.S. would not govern the nation, but rather guide Venezuela by enforcing an “oil quarantine,” which was already in place.
Days prior, in an interview with The New York Times, Trump claimed he doesn’t “need international law” in his ongoing pursuit of taking over other nations, adding that he’s “not looking to hurt people.” When pressed further, he did acknowledge that his administration was bound by international law, but added, “It depends what your definition of international law is.”
Of his ongoing campaign for domination in the Western Hemisphere, Trump said that his only constraint is, “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
Though he’s expressed interest in the United States annexing other nations and regions before, Trump’s actions in Venezuela seem to have sparked a new motivation to spread U.S. power and influence.
In addition to Cuba, he has also set his sights on Colombia, Iran and Mexico, as well as Greenland, which he’s shown a longstanding interest in for its strategic geographic location.
