Carlos Giménez asserts that "the days of the Cuban regime colonizing Venezuela and oppressing its people are over."

The Republican congressman from Florida Carlos Giménez shared a strong statement on his X account this Thursday regarding the future of the Cuban regime in the context of recent events in Venezuela.

In a tweet replicating a post from the account OSINTdefender, which showed the movement of an Ilyushin Il-96-300 airplane from the state airline Cubana de Aviación off the Venezuelan coast—likely waiting for permission to land in Caracas before returning to the island—Giménez added an emphatic message: “Let me be clear: the days of the Cuban regime colonizing #Venezuela and oppressing its people are over!”

The comment is made in a moment of high political and geopolitical tension in the region, following the operation by the United States in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of president Nicolás Maduro and his transfer to New York to face charges related to narcoterrorism.

Giménez, regarded as one of the most prominent voices of the conservative wing of the U.S. Congress on hemispheric issues, has repeatedly stated that the influence of authoritarian regimes in Latin America, including the Cuban one, must be confronted as part of Washington's foreign policy.

The legislator's statement fuels the narrative that the recent changes in Venezuelan power, along with the apparent reconfiguration of the political landscape in the region, could weaken Havana's historical presence in Caracas, where Cuba has played a political, military, and economic role for decades.

Giménez's post adds to a growing wave of statements from U.S. politicians who view the collapse of chavismo as a turning point for other allied governments, with particular focus on the future of the regime in Cuba.