After Maduro, Who's Next?     01/05 06:26

   A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President 
Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish 
territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests and threatened 
military action on Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while 
his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is "in a lot of 
trouble."

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in 
Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American 
takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security 
interests and threatened military action on Colombia for facilitating the 
global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist 
government in Cuba is "in a lot of trouble."

   The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster 
of Venezuela's Nicols Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious 
about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.

   With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes 
alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?

   "It's so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese 
ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington 
from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national 
security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it."

   Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the 
U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: 
"They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don't know."

   Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last 
month, laid out restoring "American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere" as a 
central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.

   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 U.S. in supporting Panama's secession from Colombia, which 
helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. -- as he's made his case for 
an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.

   Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's 
foundational document as the "Don-roe Doctrine."

   Causing unease in Denmark

   Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump's 
comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over 
the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.

   Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no 
right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already 
provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland 
through existing security agreements.

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

   Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring 
that "the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be 
respected" as Trump has vowed to "run" Venezuela and pressed the acting 
president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.

   Social media posting angers Danes

   Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark's efforts at boosting 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 rankled 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 
Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: "SOON."

   "And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the 
Kingdom of Denmark," Amb. Jesper Moller Sorensen, Denmark's chief envoy to 
Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's 
influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

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

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

   The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump 
"make Greenland a part of the U.S."

   A stern warning to Cuba

   Meanwhile, concern is simmering in Cuba, one of Venezuela's most important 
allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban 
government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban 
revolution.

   Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," said Cuban officials were 
with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.

   "It was Cubans that guarded Maduro," Rubio said. "He was not guarded by 
Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards." The secretary of state 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 on Sunday 
evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.

   Trump said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is 
in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided 
the Caribbean island subsidized oil.

   "It's going down," Trump said of Cuba. "It's going down for the count."

   Warning delivered to Colombia

   Trump, as he made his way back to Washington on Sunday evening, also put 
Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, and its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, on 
notice.

   Trump in a back-and-forth with reporters said Colombia is "run by a sick man 
who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States."

   The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on 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 world's cocaine trade.

   Trump began his monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro by ordering dozens of 
lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched from Venezuela in the 
Caribbean. He eventually expanded the operations to also target suspected 
vessels in the eastern Pacific that came from Colombia.

   The U.S. in September also added Colombia, the top recipient of American 
assistance in the region, to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug 
war for the first time in almost 30 years. The designation led to a slashing of 
U.S. assistance to the country.

   "He's not going to be doing it for very long," Trump said of Petro on 
Sunday. "He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories. He's not going to be doing 
it."

   Asked whether he might order the U.S. to conduct an operation against 
Colombia, Trump replied, "It sounds good to me."