{"id":8856,"date":"2026-05-22T20:04:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=8856"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:04:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:04:06","slug":"trumps-cuba-strategy-echoes-his-venezuela-playbook-but-there-are-key-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=8856","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Cuba strategy echoes his Venezuela playbook. But there are key differences"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By BEN FINLEY, MATTHEW LEE, FARNOUSH AMIRI and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration\u2019s strategy against Cuba is looking a lot like the playbook for Venezuela: An oil blockade, a growing U.S. military presence, federal charges and repeated threats of intervention.<\/p>\n

Read more Senators from both parties push Hegseth for action on Ukraine aid<\/a><\/p>\n

But similar pressure campaigns do not equal similar results, experts say, even if President Donald Trump has often warned that \u201cCuba is next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump viewed the Venezuelan intervention as a fantastic success,\u201d said Brian Finucane, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group and a former State Department lawyer. \u201cAnd he\u2019s sought to replicate the Venezuela model elsewhere, including in Iran. But obviously, Cuba, like Iran, is a very different country than Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the U.S. were to depose Cuba\u2019s leadership, there is no obvious successor who would work with the Trump administration, Finucane said. That is unlike Venezuela, where the U.S. captured leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January and his second in command, Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, stepped in with U.S. approval and remains in power.<\/p>\n

Cuban officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, say \u201cthere is no Delcy in Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of American forces in the Caribbean Sea now is also smaller and far less foreboding than the massive military buildup off Venezuela\u2019s coast in the months ahead of Maduro\u2019s ouster, Finucane said. Plus, an indictment against a 94-year-old former Cuban leader \u2014 Ra\u00fal Castro \u2014 is less impactful than charging Venezuela\u2019s sitting president with drug trafficking and using that to justify his capture.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the similarities and differences between the U.S. pressure campaigns against Venezuela and Cuba:<\/p>\n

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