"I think Cuba will not be able to survive," Trump said.

As tensions between the US and Cuba rise to the highest levels since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the mood was grim at a recent staff meeting at the US Embassy in Havana.

With Venezuela effectively neutralized as a regional adversary, Cuba has re-emerged as the next unresolved target of U.S. power in the Western Hemisphere.

Trump said on January 11 that after Maduro’s capture, no Venezuelan oil or money will go to Cuba, a close ally of Caracas. Trump’s comments on Tuesday warn of a failing economy on the island, which comes amid reports that his administration is aiming to remove the leadership as it pursues a foreign policy prioritizing the Western Hemisphere.

Tourism in Cuba is plummeting at a time when the island desperately needs that revenue. For almost two decades, a steady trickle of visitors led to a boom in tourism, only for the pandemic and severe blackouts to hit,

Following the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in an operation in which several Cuban security officers died protecting him, Donald Trump joined a long line of U.S. presidents who over the decades anticipated the collapse of Cuba’s communist government.

The Soviet Union was Cuba’s benefactor for decades. Venezuela took up the slack, and Mexico has supplied “humanitarian aid.” But the world is changing rapidly, our columnist says.

Though Mr Trump’s intentions are murky, it is obvious that Cuba’s regime is now unusually vulnerable. It has survived for decades by courting powerful backers like the Soviet Union to prop up its state-controlled economy.

Cuba is currently experiencing a radical tightening of U.S. sanctions, strangling its economy to pressure for a change in its political system, and U.S. President Donald Trump has directly threatened the island.

The Treasury Department announced a general license authorizing U.S. firms to trade Venezuelan oil after Caracas approved a law to improve terms for foreign investors.