Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel has pushed back on Donald Trump's demand that the Caribbean nation "make a deal" with Washington before it is too late. The US president warned that Havana would be cut off from the Venezuelan oil and money that it's relied on for decades. "No one dictates what we do," President Díaz-Canel said Sunday on X, responding to Trump's warning on Truth Social on Sunday. Cuba has long received massive aid packages from Venezuela, but the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro during a US operation, and Trump's announcement that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, is expected to leave Havana with an economic challenge. The Cuban government has said 32 of its citizens were killed "in combat actions" during the US operation to capture Maduro. "Cuba does not aggress; it is aggressed upon by the United States for 66 years, and it does not threaten; it prepares, ready to defend the homeland to the last drop of blood," said Díaz-Canel. In an apparent reference to Trump, he said those who turn everything into a business, "even human lives," have no moral authority to point fingers at his country. Earlier, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez asserted the country's "absolute right" to import fuel from economic partners without US interference and rejected Trump's claim that Cuba exchanged security services for Venezuelan oil and money. "The US is behaving like a criminal and uncontrolled hegemon that threatens peace and security not only of Cuba and this hemisphere but of the entire world," Rodriguez said. In subsequent comments aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters the US was "talking to Cuba" but it was not immediately clear at what level discussions are taking place. In his comments Trump said that one of the topics he wanted addressing was "the people that came from Cuba that were forced out or left under duress.". Havana residents voiced mixed reactions following Trump's threat to cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to the island. Paola Perez told Reuters that Havana is not to blame for US-Venezuelan relations, but that Cuba will be "affected, quite a lot." Another resident, Luis Alberto Jimenez, told the outlet that he is not scared by Trump's threat to cut off Cuba's oil supply. "At no point does that scare me because I'm prepared," he said. "The Cuban people are prepared for anything, any situation that may arise, for everything. We are prepared for that." — Agencies
