Solidarity and united to support Cuba. Spain, Mexico and Brazil pleaded on Saturday for a respectful dialogue with Havana. “We express our deep concern about the serious humanitarian crisis that the Cuban people are going through and urge that the necessary measures be taken to alleviate this situation and that any action likely to worsen the living conditions of the population or contrary to international law be avoided,” declared the three governments in a press release.
They also pledged to strengthen their humanitarian action towards Havana, and called for respect for international law and the sovereignty of the island.
The United States is not mentioned, but the allusion to the oil blockade imposed by the Trump administration and its stated desire to overthrow the Cuban regime is transparent. “Cuba has its problems, but they are the problems of the Cubans. Not those of Lula, of Claudia [Sheinbaum, présidente du Mexique, NDRL] or Trump […] Stop this cursed blockade against Cuba and let the Cubans live their lives,” pleaded Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. The Brazilian president was speaking at the Summit for the Defense of Democracy, which brought together around fifteen left-wing leaders on Saturday in Barcelona, at the invitation of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The Cuban economy is bloodless
Venezuela was historically Cuba’s main oil supplier – a source that has completely dried up since the January 3 kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and Washington’s ban on the new regime from exporting its oil to the island. Mexico remained. Under the pretext of an “unusual and extraordinary threat” that the Cuban government would pose to national security, Donald Trump on January 29 threatened any country that delivered oil to the island with punitive customs duties. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was forced to suspend deliveries, before partially resuming them.
Not enough, however, to meet the energy needs of Cuba, whose economy is ravaged by galloping inflation and a collapse in agricultural production. At gas stations, gasoline has become impossible to find. Last month, the electricity grid collapsed several times, plunging the island into darkness. Most flights were canceled due to the impossibility of refueling planes with kerosene. Due to a lack of electricity, non-urgent operations were canceled: at the beginning of March, more than 96,000 patients were on the waiting list, according to the Cuban authorities.
An American delegation in Havana?
Presenting regime change as inevitable, Donald Trump also raises the threat of military intervention. “Cuba is next,” he said on March 29, at the height of the American strikes against Iran. Threat or bluff? Discreet negotiations have opened between Washington and Havana, to try to reach a “deal” acceptable to both parties.
The New York Times reports that an American delegation visited Havana again this week to discuss the economic situation and formulate its demands. According to the American daily, they would relate in particular to the liberalization of the economy and compensation for American companies whose assets had been confiscated during the Cuban Revolution.
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