Cuban Minister Brands Venezuela’s Turn to Trump ‘Betrayal’ in Facebook Post
CUBA · VENEZUELA
Key Facts
- —The country Cuba is a Communist-run Caribbean island of about 9 million people, roughly the population of New Jersey. Its state-run economy depends on imported fuel, and officials plan growth of just 1% this year.
- —Why it matters For years Venezuela was Havana’s closest ally and main oil supplier. In 2025 it still sent about 26,500 barrels a day, roughly a third of Cuba’s needs, Reuters reported.
- —Why now US forces seized Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, on 3 January. His deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, took over, oil to Cuba stopped, and this week she thanked Donald Trump at the United Nations.
- —What happened On Wednesday 23 September, Cuba’s economy minister shared a Facebook post attacking Rodríguez and added: “Betrayal has only one name: betrayal.” It is known only from screenshots on Cuban news sites critical of Havana.
- —Who is involved Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, Cuba’s economy and planning minister; Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s acting president; and pro-government Cuban commentators who also attacked her.
- —What it means for you No quick end to Cuba’s blackouts. Anyone living in or visiting Cuba should still plan for long daily power cuts, with no sign of Venezuelan oil returning.
- —Still open The minister has not confirmed the post, which one outlet says later vanished. Neither Havana nor Caracas had responded by Friday, and it is unclear whether he spoke for anyone else.
A senior Cuban minister appears to have used Facebook to brand Venezuela’s turn toward Washington a betrayal. The post is known only from screenshots published by Cuban news sites critical of Havana, and he has not confirmed it.
Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning, shared a post on Wednesday 23 September attacking Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. With it he wrote: “La traición solo tiene un nombre: Traición” — “Betrayal has only one name: betrayal.”
What the minister posted
The post he shared came from a Facebook user identified as Vicente Leal. It criticised Rodríguez for sitting in silence while Trump spoke at the United Nations on Tuesday.
“Delcy Rodríguez watched at the UN as Trump called Maduro a ‘criminal’ and boasted of his kidnapping,” Leal wrote.
“She did not get up. She said nothing,” he added.
Leal’s text also attacked Venezuela’s oil agreement with the United States. The minister added only his one line, which did not name Rodríguez.
ADN Cuba, 14ymedio and CiberCuba, three Cuban news sites run from abroad, all read the line as aimed at her. All three are critical of Havana’s government.
ADN Cuba said the minister had implicitly accused Rodríguez of betrayal. 14ymedio quoted the same line on Thursday in an opinion column.
A post that did not stay up
CiberCuba reported on Friday that the post disappeared from the minister’s profile hours after it went up. A later screenshot showed Facebook’s notice: “This content is not available at this time.”
By then the post had drawn seven reactions and seven shares, the site said. It is not clear whether the Cuban minister deleted it or only restricted who could see it.
According to CiberCuba, the post was documented by Pedro Jorge Velázquez, a pro-government commentator known online as El Necio. ADN Cuba reported the post on Thursday without mentioning any removal.
CiberCuba credited the post to a Facebook profile named “Joaco Alonso.” The minister has made combative Facebook posts before; a 2020 post targeting opposition figures was later taken down.
Only CiberCuba has reported that the post vanished. Neither the minister nor the Cuban government has commented on it.
Why Havana feels abandoned
For years Venezuela sold oil to Cuba on preferential terms, while Cuban doctors and security advisers worked in Venezuela. The alliance dates back to Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro.
In 2025 Venezuela was still Cuba’s largest supplier, at about 26,500 barrels a day, Reuters reported from shipping data. That was roughly a third of the island’s daily needs.
Cargoes stopped around the turn of the year under a US blockade of Venezuelan oil. On Saturday 3 January, US forces seized Maduro in Caracas and flew him to New York, where he awaits trial.
Rodríguez, his vice-president, took over as acting president. Washington then took control of Venezuela’s oil exports, and none went to Cuba in January, Reuters reported.
By February, Cuban medical staff and security advisers were leaving Venezuela under US pressure, Reuters reported. Venezuelan oil deliveries to Havana have not resumed, according to Cuban news outlets.
A week in New York that stung
On Tuesday Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that Cuba was “an absolutely failed state” and that “it will fall.” Cuba’s delegation walked out of the hall.
Rodríguez stayed in her seat as Trump called Maduro “a criminal, a dictator,” El País reported. Late that evening she met Trump at a Manhattan hotel, their first meeting since the raid.
Related: Trump Venezuela Meeting Ends Without a Deal After Donald Trump and Acting President Delcy Rodríguez Spoke in New York on 22 September 2026. On Wednesday Rodríguez addressed the Assembly herself.
She thanked Trump for his willingness to restore diplomatic relations and cooperation, the Associated Press reported. She promised elections without setting a date and never mentioned Maduro.
Pro-government voices in Havana reacted fast. Henry Omar Pérez, a journalist at the state Cuban News Agency, wrote that “the Bolivarian Revolution has died.”
The Bolivarian Revolution is the name of the movement Chávez founded. El Necio, for his part, pointed out that her speech never mentioned Maduro.
Cuba’s own crisis
Behind the words sits an energy emergency. On Friday 18 September Cuba’s national grid collapsed, cutting power across the island, Reuters reported.
Several total blackouts have hit Cuba this year; see Cuba Grid Failure: Line Trips, Not Gunfire, Caused 8th Blackout of 2026. Even when the grid is up, rolling blackouts leave millions without power.
The state utility has forecast evening shortfalls above 2,000 megawatts this month, against peak demand of about 3,000 megawatts. In other words, about two thirds of the power Cubans need at night is missing.
Havana blames US pressure: since January Trump has threatened tariffs on any country that supplies Cuba with oil. Washington says the outages show the failure of Cuba’s state-run economy.
What comes next
Havana has announced no break with Caracas. In January Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke to Rodríguez by phone and offered Cuba’s “backing and solidarity,” ADN Cuba recalled.
A single Facebook comment by a Cuban minister is not a change of policy. It does not mean Cuba is cutting ties with Venezuela, and neither government had responded by Friday.
What it does show is strain. CiberCuba argued that Havana is trapped between anger at Caracas and hope that its oil might one day return.
The next signals to watch are any official comment and any Venezuelan oil reaching Cuba. In February the US Treasury said it would license resales of Venezuelan oil to Cuba’s private businesses, though not to state bodies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Joaquín Alonso Vázquez?
He is Cuba’s Minister of Economy and Planning, the official who presents the government’s annual economic plan. In December 2025 he presented a 2026 plan that aims for growth of about 1%.
Did the Cuban minister call Delcy Rodríguez a traitor?
Not by name: he shared a post criticising her conduct at the United Nations and wrote “Betrayal has only one name: betrayal.” Three Cuban news sites critical of Havana read the line as aimed at her, and he has not confirmed the post.
Was the post deleted?
CiberCuba reported that the Cuban minister’s post disappeared hours later and that Facebook showed it as unavailable. It is unclear whether it was deleted or hidden, and no other outlet has confirmed the removal.
Why does Venezuela matter so much to Cuba?
It was Cuba’s largest oil supplier, sending about 26,500 barrels a day in 2025, according to Reuters. Those shipments stopped around the start of 2026, deepening Cuba’s blackouts.
Sources: ADN Cuba, 24 September 2026; 14ymedio, 24 September 2026; CiberCuba, 25 September 2026; Diario de Cuba, 16 February 2024; Associated Press, 23 September 2026; El País, 23 and 24 September 2026; BBC and WLRN, 22 September 2026; Reuters, 8 and 13 January, 2 and 25 February and 18 September 2026; Associated Press and DW on Cuba’s blackouts, September 2026; Ministry of Economy and Planning of Cuba, December 2025.
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