WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the US military intervention in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for the United States to take control of the Danish territory of Greenland under the argument of national security and threatened military action in Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared that the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”

The comments of Trump and Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, underscore that Washington is serious about taking on a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

With thinly veiled threats, Trump is unsettling hemispheric friends and enemies alike, raising a pointed question around the world: Who's next?

“It's very strategic right now. Greenland is covered in Russian and Chinese ships everywhere,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. “We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

When asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier Sunday about what US military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump responded: “They're going to have to see for themselves. I really don't know.”

In his administration's National Security Strategy released last month, Trump set restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central pillar for his second term in the White House.

Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.

Follow on

Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary—a justification invoked by the United States in supporting Panama's secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the United States—while defending his assertive approach toward the continent's neighbors and beyond.

Trump has even joked that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's seminal document as the “Doctrine.” Donroe.” The doctrine formulated by President James Monroe in 1823 had the original objective of opposing European interference in the American continent.

Causing concern in Denmark

Saturday's US military operation in Caracas and Trump's comments on Sunday raised concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the island of Greenland.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that Trump "has no right to annex" the territory. He also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States – both part of NATO – with extensive access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

“I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people that have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.

Denmark also signed a European Union declaration on Sunday underlining that “the right of the people Venezuelans to determine their future must be respected” while Trump promised to “lead” Venezuela and pressured interim president Delcy Rodríguez to fall in line.

Social media post angers Danes

Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark's efforts to improve Greenland's national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory's arsenal.

Greenlanders and Danes were further angered by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the American flag accompanied by the caption: “Soon.”

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's top envoy in Washington, said in a post, responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller.

During his presidential transition and in the first months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for US jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out using military force to take control of the mineral-rich Arctic island that belongs to an ally.

The issue had largely fallen out of the headlines in recent months. But Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would name Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy.

The Louisiana governor said his volunteer position would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the United States.”

A warning to Cuba

Meanwhile, concern is growing in Cuba, one of Venezuela's most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new warning to Havana. Relations between the United States and Cuba have been hostile since the Cuban revolution of 1959.

In an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Rubio said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela before his capture.

“They were Cubans guarding Maduro,” Rubio said. "He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards." Rubio added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of "internal intelligence" in Maduro's government, including "who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors."

The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television Sunday night that 32 personnel were killed in the U.S. military operation.

Trump said the Cuban economy, battered by years of the U.S. embargo, is in ruins and will regress even further now with the removal of Maduro, who provided subsidized oil to the Caribbean island.

“It is going to fall,” Trump said about Cuba. “It's definitely going to fall.”

Warning given to Colombia

While returning to Washington on Sunday night, Trump also put Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, and its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, on notice.

In a conversation with reporters, he said that Colombia is “run by a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States.”

The Trump administration sanctioned in October Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the epicenter of the global cocaine trade.

Trump began his pressure campaign on Maduro months ago by ordering dozens of military attacks against boats in the Caribbean that he said were used to transport drugs from Venezuela. Eventually, it expanded operations to also attack vessels in the eastern Pacific coming from Colombia.

In September, the United States also added Colombia, the largest recipient of American assistance in the region, to a list of nations that are not cooperating in the drug war for the first time in nearly 30 years. The designation reduced American assistance to the country.

“He's not going to do it for a long time,” Trump said of Petro on Sunday. “It has cocaine factories. He's not going to be doing it.”

When asked if he could order the United States to conduct an operation against Colombia, Trump responded: “Sounds good to me.”

___

Andrea Rodríguez in Havana and Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this report.

___

This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.