'A huge problem': Marco Rubio sharpens warning to Cuba after Venezuela

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that Cuba could face pressure from the Trump administration after the US operation in Venezuela, saying the Cuban government is "a huge problem" and that it is "in a lot of trouble".

In an interview with NBC News, Rubio declined to spell out future steps but said it was "not any mystery" that Washington is hostile to what he called the "Cuban regime". He accused Havana of "propping up" Nicolás Maduro and embedding itself deep inside Venezuela's internal security and intelligence system.

Asked whether the Cuban government is the Trump administration's next target after Venezuela, Rubio said: "The Cuban government is a huge problem."

When pressed - "So is that a yes?" - he replied: "I think they're in a lot of trouble...yes. I'm not going to talk to you about what our future steps and policies are going to be right now in this regard. And I don't think it's any mystery that we're not big fans of the Cuban regime who, by the way, are the ones propping up Maduro."

Rubio claimed Cuba effectively controlled Maduro's internal security structure and that its personnel were embedded within the regime. "His internal force, internal security apparatus is entirely controlled by Cubans," he said.

"It was Cubans who guarded Maduro. He had Cuban bodyguards," Rubio said. "In terms of their internal intelligence - who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors, those are all Cubans."

Asked what Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez needs to do to keep US troops out of the country, Rubio said the conditions for any shift in relations had already been laid out by Washington. "You can't flood this country with gang members. You can't flood this country with drugs that are coming out of Colombia through Venezuela with cooperation from the elements of security forces."

"You can't turn Venezuela into the operating hub for Iran, Russia, for Hezbollah, for China, and Cuban intelligence agents that control the country," Rubio said. "That cannot continue."

Rubio also focused on Venezuela's oil wealth, arguing it could not remain under what he described as the control of US adversaries. "You cannot continue to have the largest oil reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States, not benefiting the people of Venezuela, and stolen by a handful of oligarchs around the world, including inside of Venezuela," he said.

He framed this as part of a broader global contest, arguing Washington would not accept similar resource extraction dynamics in the Western Hemisphere. "We've seen how our adversaries all over the world are exploiting and extracting resources from Africa and every other country," Rubio said. "They're not going to do it in the Western Hemisphere. That is not going to happen under President Trump."

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Cuba was "ready to fall" after US forces captured the leader of its ally Venezuela. "Cuba is ready to fall," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, saying it would be hard for Havana to "hold out" without receiving heavily subsidised Venezuelan oil. "I don't think we need any action. It looks like it's going down."