In 1996, Cuba shot down two American planes. Now Trump is taking revenge

In both countries, Venezuela and Cuba, the way the United States approaches the issue is by hitting hard on these father figures of the regime,” said Dr Carlos Solar, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. “If you extract the father figure, then you have a weaker regime that you can negotiate with and probably pull your way. “In Venezuela, there is Delcy Rodriguez. And it might be possible that without the Castro figure in Cuba, [Miguel] Diaz-Canel [the Cuban president] also deals with America.”