Wall Street Journal: The United States is seriously seeking regime change in Cuba before the end of 2026

US President Donald Trump’s administration is looking for influential figures within the Cuban government who could help strike a deal that would end communist rule in that country before the end of 2026, driven by its recent success in overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

According to the Wall Street Journal newspaper, the US intelligence services indicate that the regime in Cuba is going through an unprecedented moment of weakness, in light of a suffocating economic crisis and the loss of its most important supporter in Venezuela, which opens a rare window to bring about a historic transformation on the island, which has been ruled by communists for nearly seven decades.

According to the WSJ newspaper, this vision is based on the White House’s conviction that the Cuban economy is on the brink of total collapse, with the population suffering from severe shortages of medicines and basic commodities and ongoing interruptions in the supply of electricity, especially after the country lost Venezuelan oil and financial subsidies that were its lifeline.

The Wall Street Journal, however, notes that the administration doesn’t have a comprehensive detailed plan for overthrowing the Cuban regime, but is focused on looking for figures within the ruling structure who might be willing to make an exit deal that would ensure an orderly end to communist rule.

The US administration does not have a comprehensive detailed plan for overthrowing the Cuban regime, but its focused on looking for figures within the ruling structure who might be willing to conclude an exit deal that would ensure an orderly end to communist rule.

The US operation that ended with the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro, and the accompanying internal cooperation and rapid collapse of the ruling circle, is seen as a model intended to be projected, at least partially, on the Cuban case, and an indirect message of deterrence to its leadership.

President Trump sent a direct message to the Cuban regime on social media, calling on it to make a deal before it was too late, stressing the cutting off of all financial and oil supplies.

Meanwhile, Washington is drying up hard currency by targeting Cuban medical missions abroad and imposing severe restrictions on Cuban officials, with the aim of pushing the regime to the brink of an economic abyss that could force it to negotiate a political way out.

According to the report, Trump and his inner circle see the overthrow of the communist regime in Cuba as the crucial test of the national security strategy to reshape the hemisphere, citing cooperation with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, as evidence of the US ability to dictate the terms.

The WSJ quoted a US official who worked on the issue during Trump’s first term, saying that the president believes that ending the era of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro will immortalize his political legacy and achieve what President John F. Kennedy failed to do in the 1960s.

It’s also a long-stated goal of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Florida in 1956.

However, the news report points to significant difficulties in this path.

Cuba is radically different from Venezuela, a closed one-party state, lacking organized opposition or active civil society, and having a security apparatus experienced in suppressing protests.

Officials and experts also warn that the collapse of the regime could lead to chaos and a broader humanitarian crisis, similar to the scenarios Washington has sought to avoid in Venezuela.

Havana, on the other hand, categorically rejects US pressure, stressing that any understanding based on coercion or threat is rejected.

The regime continues to show mobilization and defense, while the silent protests in the streets of the Cuban capital, amid darkness and fuel shortages, reflect the extent of latent popular anger.

The Wall Street Journal concludes that the United States is entering a very sensitive phase in its dealings with Cuba, combining economic escalation, political messaging and the search for internal penetration, but without real guarantees of success, in the face of a regime that has proven, for many decades, exceptional resilience.