Trump on return trip to Washington predicts demise of Cuba, warns Colombia, threatens Greenland

President Donald Trump on Sunday predicted Cuba’s government could soon collapse and threatened Colombia’s president, a stark warning that underscored his administration’s increasingly aggressive posture toward leftist governments across Latin America.

For good measure, he reiterated his desire to annex Greenland, as well.

The comments made aboard Air Force One as the president returned to Washington came less than 48 hours after the American military conducted a brazen raid inside Caracas to arrest and detain Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

“Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall,” Trump said. I don’t know if they’re going to hold out.”

The president waved off the possibility that the administration might use American forces to hasten the Cuban government’s demise, explaining that Venezuela was Cuba’s primary economic backer.

“Cuba only survives because of Venezuela,” Trump said.

Many presidents have predicted the communist government’s fall and Havana survived the collapse of the USSR. And yet Trump’s remarks highlighted the extent to which his administration is not only expecting regime change in multiple countries but openly hoping for it, even amid uncertainty about the future of Venezuela.

“Don’t ask me about who’s in charge [of Venezuela] because it will be controversial,” Trump said. “We’re in charge.”

Trump said he wants to rebuild the country — particularly its oil infrastructure — before having an election so the people can elect their own leader. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick implied that steel and aluminum industries could be revived for U.S. benefit as well. For now, he said, he is willing to work with Delcy Rodriguez, the acting president and Maduro’s vice president.

Trump said he expects Rodriguez and the new Venezuelan government will allow the U.S. unfettered access to their country so that American forces can help rebuild.

But, he added, “if they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.”

The administration maintains that targeting Maduro was, in large part, an effort to stop the drug trade. Trump also threatened Colombia President Gustavo Petro, a vocal critic of the U.S. operation in Venezuela.

“Colombia is very sick too — run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and sending it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it very long,” Trump said.

And just hours after the Danish Prime Minister blasted Trump for threatening to annex Greenland, the president said the United States “needs” the autonomous Danish territory.

“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” Trump said. “The EU needs us to have Greenland.”