Marco Rubio Says Cuban Government ‘In A Lot Of Trouble’ Following Maduro Arrest

Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the Cuban government of “propping up” Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker that leaders in Cuba were “in a lot of trouble.”

Rubio joined Meet the Press to discuss the American military action conducted on Friday night that captured Maduro and his wife. Welker pushed him on a number of topics, including President Donald Trump’s failure to seek congressional approval for the mission. At the close of the segment, Welker asked Rubio if the administration would next turn its eyes to Cuba.

“Is the Cuban government the Trump administration’s next target, Mr. Secretary?” she asked.

“Well, the Cuban government is a huge problem, first of all for the people of Cuba.” he said. “But I don’t think people fully appreciate–”

Welker interjected, pushing for clarification.

“So is that a yes?” she asked.

“I think they’re in a lot of trouble, yes.” said Rubio. “I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going 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, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro.”

He continued:

His entire internal security force, his internal security apparatus is entirely controlled by Cubans. One of the untold stories here is how, in essence, you talk about colonization, because I think you said Delcy Rodríguez mentioned that the ones who have sort of colonized, at least inside the regime, are Cubans. It was Cubans that guarded Maduro. He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguarts. In terms of their internal intelligence, who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors, those are all Cubans.

Trump and his administration have long been vocal critics of the Cuban government and President Miguel Diaz-Canel. Diaz-Canel spoke out against Maduro’s arrest on Saturday, calling it “an unacceptable, vulgar and barbarian kidnapping”

When Trump was asked by reporters after Maduro’s arrest how Cuba should be interpreting the Venezuelan operation, he signaled that the U.S. had not ruled out action in the country.

“I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now,” Trump said. “We want to help the people. It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”

Watch above via Meet the Press.