US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday (May 27) that "Cuba is in a lot of trouble" while talking up Venezuela's oil exports to the U.S..
President Donald Trump's administration has been stepping up pressure on Cuba, after using the military in January to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Cuba has been a U.S. antagonist for decades, since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. Trump is strongly supported by hardline Cuban-Americans in Florida, who have pushed for U.S.-instigated regime change for decades.
The Republican U.S. president has made clear he wants to see change in Cuba.