Tensions with the US continue to escalate. Following the rendition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American military forces, US president Donald Trump set up a fuel blockade to halt Venezuelan oil from being sent to the Latin American nation, which is in the grips of an energy crisis.
Now, Cuba is facing a “perfect storm” of infrastructure failures and extreme weather as rolling blackouts plague a nation deep in the grips of a years-long energy crisis.
Now, with the added weight of Wednesday’s boat shootings, it seems bad blood between the two nations is a boiling point.
The shootings come weeks after Trump imposed a blockade on oil exports to Cuba. He signed an executive order to impose punitive tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba, pushing the already dire fuel crisis to new extremes.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, the fuel blockade has resulted in food shortages, has disrupted water supplies to the nation’s people, and is pushing hospitals to breaking point. Ambulances are struggling to find fuel to respond to emergencies, while the government is on the brink of collapse.
Aviation has been grounded, with the Cuban government announcing in early February it would no longer refuel foreign aircraft, triggering an immediate ripple effect for the nation’s tourism sector, with regional Canadian airlines and Air Canada cancelling all flights to Cuba. Russian carriers Rossiya and Nordwind followed suit only 48 hours later.
According to a New York Times analysis of shipping data and satellite images, Cuban tankers have hardly left the island’s shores for months. The US military has seized any ships supporting Cuba, and oil-rich allies have halted shipments or declined to come to the rescue thanks to Trump’s’s punitive measures.
The siege-tactic is the first effective blockade against Cuba by the United States since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and seems to be forcing the nation down the path of America’s ultimate goal: A regime change by the end of the year. Trump has already warned Cuba to “make a deal before it’s too late”.
In January, Trump also shared a social media message that suggested US Secretary of State Marco Rubio – a Cuban-American former Florida senator and the son of Cuban exiles – should become president of Cuba.
Trump shared that post with the comment: “Sounds good to me!”
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