Diplomatic Thaw With Cuba Could Mean Tough Times for Venezuela

Is Venezuela the new Cuba?

By Rhonda FanningApril 13, 2015 8:38 am

A political divide lasting more than half a century came to an end over the weekend. On Saturday, President Obama sat down with Cuba’s president Raul Castro. Relations have not completely been fully restored, but travel restrictions and economic sanctions have begun to loosen. Many are expecting Obama to remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terror.

All of these steps to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba have had an interesting side effect. Karl Vick, a correspondent for TIME writes, “President Obama’s decision to reopen relations with Cuba…is helping isolate Latin America’s other hard-line leftist regime.”

He’s talking about Venezuela, the oil-rich country that has been Cuba’s strongest ally thus far. It’s provided Cuba with billions of dollars worth of aid in the form of subsidized oil – but now Cuba can turn to the U.S. to make up for any shortfalls, which could include oil and gasoline.

Vick joins the Standard to talk about what this all means for Venezuela, Cuba, and the Texas oil industry.