House Intelligence chair: Maduro’s capture is ‘beginning of the end’ for Cuba’s regime

The top lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee believes the weekend’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro could have a domino effect in Cuba.

Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., called it “the beginning of the end” for the regime there.

“Cuba and Venezuela have had a symbiotic relationship for a long, long time. Cuba needs Venezuelan oil. They no longer have the resources that Venezuela will provide,” Crawford said on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show.”

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Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., speaks as House Republicans hold a news conference at 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 the government of Cuba, a one-party communist state that has long been at odds with the United States. The United States imposes an economic embargo on the country, limiting exports to and from Cuba, as well as travel restrictions that limit tourism.

These measures have been in force for 63 years.

“In February 1962, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed an embargo on trade between the United States and Cuba and ordered the Commerce and Treasury Departments to implement the embargo, which remains in effect today,” the State Department explains on its website.

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Cubans wave a Venezuelan national flag along with a Cuban flag during a rally in support of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Havana on January 3, 2026, after his capture by U.S. forces. (Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite these long-standing tensions, Crawford noted that impetus for change could also come from the cultural proximity between Cuba and the United States, in addition to the collapse of their partnerships with Venezuela.

“You could very well see a popular uprising there. There’s a lot of connective tissue. We really have, for lack of a better term, a family connection to Cuba,” Crawford said. “We have so many families in South Florida who are directly linked to family members in Cuba that remittances are a significant part of their economy. They are dependent on the United States, whether they like to admit it or not.

“We can play an outsized role there in influencing these people and helping them organically rise up and defeat this oppressive regime,” Crawford added.

Crawford did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the United States should also take military action in Havana.

Crawford said the political cascade sparked by Maduro’s capture and the U.S. presence in Venezuela would not be limited to Cuba.

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Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., questions witnesses during a House Select Committee on Intelligence hearing in Washington, March 26, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“It also plays into what I call the communist triad of the Western Hemisphere, which is Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. It probably doesn’t bode well for Nicaragua if we’re honest about it. I mean, I’m sure they’re watching anxiously, wondering when the next boot is going to drop and where they will be on that,” Crawford said.

He also sent a message to America’s main adversaries who have established relationships with these Latin and South American countries.

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“Iran, Russia, China, you’re playing in the wrong sandbox,” Crawford said.