Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., speaks as House Republicans hold a news conference in the Capitol in Washington, May 6, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
According to Crawford, Venezuela also benefited from the partnership by receiving medical assistance from Cuba and military protections used by Maduro.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel leads Cuba’s government — a one-party Communist state that has long been at odds with the United States. The U.S. has an economic embargo on the country, restricting exports to and from Cuba as well as travel restrictions that limit tourism.
Those measures have been in place for 63 years.
"In February 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed an embargo on trade between the United States and Cuba and directed the Departments of Commerce and the Treasury to implement the embargo, which remains in place today," the Department of State explains on its website.
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Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., questions witnesses during a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington, March 26, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
"This also plays into what I call the communist triad of the Western hemisphere, that is Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. This probably doesn't bode well for Nicaragua if we're being honest about it. I mean, I'm sure they're watching anxiously, wondering when the next boot is gonna fall and where they'll be in relation to that," Crawford said.
He also sent a message to America’s larger adversaries who have built relationships with those countries in Latin and South America.
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"Iran, Russia, China, you're playing in the wrong sandbox," Crawford said.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/maduros-capture-beginning-end-cubas-regime-house-intelligence-chair-says