Ben Rhodes

I strongly suggest that they make a deal before it is too late.

Thank you for your attention in this matter, President Trump.

So an energy analyst quoted

The Miami Herald said that Venezuela exported an average of 30,000 barrels of oil per day to Cuba in 2025.

That was about half of what they needed.

Cuba also gets oil from Mexico, as I just mentioned, and also Russia, but it seems unlikely that those countries are willing or able to fill the gap.

left by Venezuela going down to zero.

So the reduction in oil, it's going to impact everything.

It's going to impact Cuba's ability to generate electricity, distribute drinking water.

Farmers won't be able to run tractors.

They won't be able to grow food.

The transportation sector could just cease to operate.

And before those cuts, Cuba was experiencing rolling blackouts of up to 20 hours outside of Havana and up to 10 hours at a time per day.

inside Havana.

And the tourism sector, which was a huge source of revenue, has been crushed for the last five years by COVID and then hurricanes and now, you know,

whatever's going on, the political risk.

And the Cuban economy could be even further decimated if Cuban doctors working in Venezuela are forced to leave.

And I saw one economist say that the impact of Cuba losing its revenue from like the medical exchange of doctors with Venezuela could be worse than the fall of the Soviet Union when they lost those subsidies, which seems massive.

So Ben, you're seeing a lot of Republicans, again, Lindsey Graham,

Kind of licking his chops and predicting an imminent collapse of the Cuban government.