MATANZAS, Cuba (AP).— The Russian ship “Anatoly Kolodkin” docked yesterday in the Cuban port of Matanzas, on the northern coast, loaded with 730,000 barrels of oil, the first time in three months that an oil tanker has arrived on the island.
US President Donald Trump’s administration allowed the ship to proceed despite its energy blockade against the Caribbean nation that has worsened a severe crisis.
The lack of oil has deepened the prolonged blackouts that were already being experienced as well as the shortage of food and medicine. Even the city of Matanzas, about 100 kilometers east of Havana and where the Russian oil tanker docked on Tuesday, was practically dark in the early morning despite the importance of its port and its proximity to the refineries, The Associated Press found.
Many Cubans, including the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, celebrated the arrival.
“Our gratitude to the government and people of Russia for all the support we are receiving. Valuable cargo that arrives in the midst of the complex energy situation we face,” he wrote in X.
For its part, the Cuban Foreign Ministry thanked Russia for its “solidarity support” to the island for the arrival of the oil tanker.
“This valuable aid comes in the midst of the energy siege imposed by the United States, which is trying to suffocate the Cuban population,” said the Havana Foreign Ministry on the X social network.
Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it consumes and depends on imports to sustain its energy network. Experts say the shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to cover daily demand for nine or 10 days.
“Possibly the arrival of an oil tanker to a country like the Russian one to Cuba has never generated so much news,” wrote the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, in X.
“A sign of the brutal siege that Cubans live with heroism and stoicism. A sign of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”
The ship was sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom after the war in Ukraine.
Cuba used to receive a good portion of its oil from Venezuela, but that changed since the United States intervened in the country and captured its leader Nicolás Maduro on January 3.
The other supplier, Mexico, has since also halted its oil shipments after Trump threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any country selling or shipping fuel to the island.
On Sunday night, Trump said he had “no problem” with a Russian tanker delivering aid to the island. “We don’t care if someone gets a shipment because they need it… they have to survive,” he said.
“Cuba is finished,” he added. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether they get an oil ship or not, it’s not going to matter.” Trump signed an executive order in which he declared Cuba a danger to the United States.
On Monday, regarding Trump’s decision to allow the Russian tanker and not those from other countries, the White House called it “a decision that will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian or other reasons” and added that “there has been no firm change” in the “sanctions policy.”
Authorities from both countries acknowledged that they held talks, but did not offer details about their nature.
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