On January 11, 2026, President Trump announced via social media that Cuba will receive "ZERO" oil or money from Venezuela, warning Havana to "make a deal" before it's too late. This follows a U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3, 2026.

The Cuban government reported 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation that captured Maduro. These Cuban troops were embedded with Venezuelan forces in Caracas. Cuba observed national mourning on January 5, 2026, for the fallen soldiers.

Trump ordered a "total and complete blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela on December 16, 2025. The Pentagon prefers the term "quarantine" over "blockade," as blockades are generally considered acts of war under international law.

The blockade aims to prevent Venezuela from exporting oil, which has been the regime's primary revenue source. Under existing U.S. sanctions since 2005, the first Trump administration effectively blocked all Venezuelan crude exports to the U.S. in 2019. The new blockade extends this to prevent oil shipments to other countries, including Cuba.

Venezuela has historically supplied Cuba with heavily subsidized oil, which represents a critical lifeline for the island's struggling economy. The potential halt of Venezuelan oil imports poses severe economic consequences for Cuba, which is already facing energy crises and widespread shortages.

Trump accused Venezuela of using oil revenue to finance "drug terrorism" and demanded the return of "Oil, Land, and other Assets" allegedly stolen from the U.S. The administration justified the blockade as a narrowly tailored measure against sanctioned oil tied to Maduro's regime.

On December 31, 2025, the Trump administration sanctioned four entities for illegally operating in Venezuela's oil sector and blocked four associated oil tankers, described as part of a "shadow fleet" funding Maduro's regime and allowing him to evade sanctions.