António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, stated this Monday that the downfall of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela was made possible by "significant complicities within the Venezuelan political system,” and dismissed the possibility of a similar scenario occurring in Cuba, where he believes the regime maintains a greater internal cohesion.
The statements were gathered from the official X account of the Cuban mission to the UN and come at a time of intense pressure from the Trump administration on Havana, with over 240 sanctions accumulated since January 2025 and explicit threats of military action.
"In Venezuela, honestly, we saw a military operation against Maduro, but I have the impression that there were significant complicities within the Venezuelan political system," declared Guterres.
The highest official of the United Nations was unequivocal in rejecting any parallels between the two countries: "I don't think it is possible to have a situation similar [to Venezuela in Cuba] because Venezuela was completely different. Comparing Venezuela to Cuba, I believe, is an unfair comparison."
The insinuation of "complicities" within chavismo is politically significant: it suggests that certain sectors of the Venezuelan system may have facilitated or not resisted the Absolute Resolution Operation on January 3, 2026, in which elite U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in Caracas.
In that operation, which involved 150 aircraft and about 200 soldiers with support from the CIA, 32 Cuban military personnel died defending the Venezuelan regime.
Regarding Cuba, Guterres reiterated the UN's historical position: "Our stance on sanctions against Cuba is very clear. There is a resolution every year from the General Assembly that considers those sanctions a violation of international law."
The Secretary General also warned that "there is no military solution that can be sought for Cuba" and called for "constructive dialogue to ensure that the Cuban people do not continue to suffer so dramatically."
These words come days after Trump signed a new executive order that declares Cuba an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the national security of the United States and expands sanctions on the energy, defense, mining, and finance sectors.
The U.S. president also threatened to position the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier near the island: "We will get it there, stop it about 100 yards off the coast, and they will say, 'Thank you very much, we surrender,'" Trump stated in May.
On May 5, the Senate rejected a Democratic proposal to limit military operations against Cuba, while Trump stated on March 27 that "Cuba is next" and on March 16 that he believed he would have "the honor of taking Cuba."
The humanitarian crisis on the island has drastically worsened: sanctions have reduced Cuba's energy imports by between 80% and 90%, with at least seven tankers intercepted, and the decline of chavismo deprived the regime of its main oil supplier, which used to provide between 25,000 and 35,000 barrels daily.
In February, the UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, already warned that the humanitarian situation in Cuba "will worsen, if not collapse, if its oil needs are not met."
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