U.S. strikes Venezuela

COMMENTARY As the U.S. cuts off global oil to Cuba, the island's communist regime could get President Trump to back off by offering something he's showing special interest in: dictatorship consulting.

A senior Cuban diplomat tells The Associated Press that Cuba is open to dialogue with the United States if certain criteria are met. The island faces an economic crisis, blackouts and disrupted oil shipments from Venezuela due to U.S. actions.

Cubans are hustling to become more self-sufficient as the U.S. government tightens its economic noose over the communist-run island in a move experts say is meant to force a popular uprising and usher in a new government.

South Florida exiles applaud Trump for removing Venezuela's dictator, but they're less sure about whether he intends to remove Venezuela's dictatorship — or simply extract its oil.

Without Venezuelan oil to help run manufacturing and agricultural operations, material conditions in Cuba are likely to deteriorate further. That presents hope for a holistic government change as well as fear for what comes next. WLRN spoke to prominent Cubans and Cuban-Americans about the future of the island nation.

Thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

To understand what’s happening and what it means for U.S. consumers and the American energy industry, The Conversation U.S. checked in with Amy Myers Jaffe, a research professor at New York University and senior fellow at Tufts University who studies global energy markets and the geopolitics of oil.

A new survey of Venezuelans inside Venezuela indicates that while they applaud President Trump's ouster of their dictator, they think he's more interested in their oil — and they strongly disagree with him about María Corina Machado.

The government announced a goodwill effort last week to free imprisoned opposition figures, civil society leaders, journalists and more. Relatives of more than 800 detainees began gathering outside prisons Thursday.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says his administration is currently not in talks with the U.S. government. This comes a day after President Donald Trump threatened Cuba following the U.S. attack on Venezuela earlier this month. The situation remains tense, with Cuba facing significant economic challenges due to U.S. sanctions.

Pope Leo XIV has met with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado at the Vatican. Monday's meeting was not previously announced. Machado is touring Europe and the United States after escaping Venezuela in early 2025. Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, calls for Venezuela to remain independent following the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

Cuba is a major beneficiary of oil shipments from Venezuela. But Cuba has been cut off from shipments as U.S. forces seize tankers. Trump used a social media post Sunday to urge Cuba to make a deal before, as he put it, "IT IS TOO LATE."