Trump Escalates War Against Cuba

Mass rally in Havana, Cuba

(Photo: michaelharrison.org.uk)

On March 21, convoys of US citizens traveled to Cuba to meet an international flotilla at Havana’s Malecon, in protest of the Trump-Rubio policy of stopping all oil shipments to Cuba. This policy, announced on January 29, has resulted in a devastating oil shortage, impacting every facet of the Cuban peoples’ lives. Days before, the New York Times revealed that the US and Cuba were engaged in discussions. Cuba’s Deputy Prime Minister, Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga, stated that Cuba is open to foreign investment: “Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with US companies, also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.”

The Trump administration has been successful in implementing a policy that has cut Cuba’s sources of oil and hard currency income. The kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, and the US takeover of Venezuelan oil, were the first volleys in upping the ante to try to topple Cuba’s government. Since Cuba only produces a little over 30 percent of what the island needs, Cuba has relied heavily on Venezuelan oil, stemming back to the presidency of Hugo Chávez. Mexico is the second biggest provider of oil to Cuba and, although Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has stated that Mexico, as a sovereign nation, can send humanitarian aid to any country, including oil, it has not sent any oil shipments to Cuba since January. The waters surrounding Cuba are also being actively patrolled by US ships to ensure that no oil tankers, small or large, enter into Cuba’s harbors.

Without the availability of oil, tourism, the number one source of income for Cuba, has declined significantly, by up to 75 percent. Airlines have cancelled flights into Cuba because arriving jets would have no way to refuel. Tourists have been scared off by long electricity black-outs and electrical grid breakdowns, even though many larger hotels have their own generators. And the ability to travel within the island has been greatly restricted due to lack of gasoline.

Cuba’s second source of income that the US has actively sabotaged is the contracts Cuba has with countries where Cuban healthcare teams serve. The US propaganda war, waged against Cuba’s healthcare teams, started during the first Trump administration. The US charges that Cuba’s use of these healthcare teams is akin to human trafficking because host countries pay the Cuban government for these medical teams and their services. Cuba has responded that the healthcare professionals are paid a salary, and that additional monies the government receives from contract payments go to fund Cuba’s educational system, including medical schools, to produce more doctors and other services for the Cuban people. Over the past year, US pressure has resulted in healthcare contracts ending in Paraguay, the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Guatemala, and Guyana. Honduras, alone, severed a contract that paid for more than 150 doctors.

In response to pressure by the US to end the employment of 500 Cuban doctors in Calabria, Italy, the governor of the region said, “Cuban doctors, who are allowing us to keep hospitals and emergency rooms open, are still a necessity for our region.” During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Calabria received Cuban healthcare professionals to manage the devastating epidemic that hit the region. Overall, the US war against Cuba has resulted in the deprivation of medical care to poor and working class people in many regions of the world.

The oil crisis has only exacerbated the economic crisis Cuba has been facing under the 65-year-old US blockade of Cuba. In 2025, the sanctions cost Cuba $7.5 billion, or an average of $20 million per day. That money could guarantee the supply of basic necessities for the entire population for six years. Since the blockade's imposition in 1960, sanctions have cost Cuba a total of $170 billion.

In reality, Cuba is in crisis because of US policy towards Cuba. Today, Cubans face blackouts of sometimes up to 30 hours. Food cannot be brought into the cities because there is no gasoline for delivery trucks. Many cannot go to work because buses and taxis cannot get fuel. Fumigation to rid neighbor-hoods of infectious mosquitoes carrying dengue and the more serious chikungunya disease cannot take place, because the machines need gas and the chemicals cannot be imported.

People who need to go to hospitals or clinics have no way to get there, and life-saving surgeries often cannot take place because there is no electricity or because the medicines or equipment, needed to save lives or treat patients, cannot be obtained.

In mid-March, Trump announced at a press conference that, “I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba. That’d be a good honor. It’s a big honor….Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it – I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.” Trump’s statement says it all. This administration believes that any country that Trump wants is up for the taking, even if it means starving the Cuban people and making their lives miserable until they bow down. But the Cuban people, whether they have criticisms of their government or not, believe, overall, in their right to self-determination.

Today, now more than ever, Cuba needs our international solidarity. Thousands of people around the world are donating money, food, and equipment to send to Cuba to aid the people in their fight to survive. For more information on how you can help, please contact womenandcuba@gmail.com or go to www.us-cubanormalization.org.

Cindy Domingo is a veteran activist with LELO (Legacy of Equality, Leader-ship & Organizing) and APALA (Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance). She is PSARA's Co-VP for Outreach.