Taking over South America?: Marco Rubio hints at Trump’s next target for regime change war after Venezuela
A poor island nation is suddenly an existential threat to the United States.
Fresh off a U.S. strike that toppled Venezuela, the Trump administration is already scanning the neighborhood for its next target. A day after capturing Nicolas Maduro, Marco Rubio handed us the next chapter in this geopolitical sitcom: Cuba.
On NBC’s Meet the Press on Jan. 4, host Kristen Welker bluntly asked Rubio whether Cuba is the administration’s next target. And Rubio did not say no. Instead, he described the Cuban government as “a huge problem” and said it was “in a lot of trouble.” Welker tried again to get a yes or no, but Rubio declined to outline specific future actions. But importantly, he clearly outlined the administration’s hostility toward the regime:
I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard, but I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime.
Rubio justified the hostility, citing Cuba’s alleged role inside Venezuela itself. According to him, Maduro’s “entire internal security apparatus” was not Venezuelan, but Cuban. His guards? Cuban. The people watching for traitors? Cuban. Internal intelligence structure keeping the regime intact? Cuban. Rubio even argued that Cuba has colonized the Venezuelan state completely.
“One of the untold stories here is how, in essence, you talk about colonization. The ones who have sort of colonized, at least inside the regimen, are Cubans. It was Cubans who guarded Maduro. He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. In terms of their internal intelligence—who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors—those are all Cubans.”
Notably, Rubio avoided operational specifics. But the restraint felt procedural rather than reassuring. In the wake of Venezuela, it’s clear that Cuba is no longer being discussed as a frozen Cold War relic. It is being framed as an active, destabilizing player and thus, a target of the Trump administration’s regime change strikes. But it’s all happening without Congress. Without even pretending there’s a framework beyond vibes and vendettas.
What stood out to people most wasn’t Rubio’s hostility toward the Cuban government. That’s hardly new. It was how casual he sounded about the implications. As one user on X wrote, “He is so nonchalant about taking over countries. Such a shill.” The Trump administration also seems to have no hesitation over the cost of these regime-change adventures. As another user urged, “Can we please keep in mind how much all our regime change wars have cost us?”
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