MIAMI - Cuba has long remained a thorn in the side of the U.S. foreign policy approach towards its southern neighbors, resisting any U.S. influence in the region over the past half a century, and leading an endless charge of anti-Yankee sentiments across the Latin hemisphere.
For U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio: "All roads lead to Havana", according to reports.
Amid screeching blackouts, an economy in shambles, and a population increasingly restless to turn the tables on 60 years of poverty, oppression, and malaise, the regime in Havana is on the verge of losing its most constant benefactor in a region that's become increasingly hostile to, or at least unimpressed by, its socialist cause.
Following the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker ship name Skipper on Wednesday, carrying two million barrels of heavy crude off the Venezuelan coast, according to data from P.D.V.S.A.–Venezuela's state-run oil company–the Cuban government condemned the move by U.S. special operators as an "act of piracy and maritime terrorism", claiming the operation hurts the economic condition of Cuba and its residents.
The Cuban regime benefits from the sale of subsidized Venezuelan crude, and commonly resells the commodity to the Chinese and Iranian governments in exchange for foreign currency.
The seized oil tanker has been surveilled by U.S. authorities and was the subject of U.S. sanctions, along with dozens of other tankers, which are suspected of being part of a major international illegal transport network involving Cuba, Venezuela, China, and the Iranian government, according to U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Republican hawk and long-time foe of Latin America's socialist regimes in Caracas, Havana, and Managua in Central America, is now reportedly eyeing a concerted destabilization effort as part of the Trump administration's large-scale deployment of military assets in the region, and its targeted strike campaign against suspected narco-traffickers transporting illicit narcotics throughout the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.
Rubio sees Maduro as the first pillar in a long-awaited wave of democratic transitions in the region, and the necessary removal of Maduro from his seat of power in Caracas, to effect the weakening of governments in Cuba and Nicaragua in order to free their people from the autocratic whims of their socialist dictators.
For Rubio, Maduro is at the center of the whole socialist enterprise in Latin America.
It is widely known throughout Western intelligence communities that the regime in Havana has provided the government in Caracas with security and intelligence support in return for discounted Venezuelan oil shipments.
The Cuban exploitation of the Maduro government's executive security apparatus has not only allowed the G2–Havana's leading intelligence agency–with an opportunity to provide security expertise to Maduro and his inner circle, and valuable intelligence access to the executive branch of a friendly government and benefactor, but also provides authorities in Havana a strategic negotiating position to receive the crucial imports of Venezuelan crude that helps sustain the regime in Havana, and keeping its power alive.
Officials close to the White House say that Secretary Rubio remains the administration's most aggressive proponent for increasing pressure on the Maduro regime in an effort to further isolate the government in Havana.
U.S. media outlets have repeatedly portrayed an image of the White House, depicting an administration at odds over the Venezuelan issue and the Maduro regime, with Secretary Rubio taking a less compromising posture towards the socialist governments.
Officials with inside access to the administration in Washington, however, like White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, have refuted these claims, stating, President Trump and Mr. Rubio, "are in lockstep as the entire administration executes the America First agenda the President was elected to implement."
