Cole Welsh, Editor

Due to President Trump’s oil blockade, Cuba is facing its gravest challenge since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the United States has effectively cut the communist-run country off from Venezuelan oil.

To make matters worse, Trump signed an executive order imposing strict penalties on anyone selling oil to the isolated island country, accusing Cuba of undertaking “extraordinary actions that harm and threaten” the United States. 

Shortly after, Mexico, a crucial supplier of oil to the island nation, halted oil shipments entirely to avoid American sanctions. Since then, Cuba has descended into a nationwide fuel shortage. Worsened by aging infrastructure, this energy crisis has yielded rolling blackouts for millions of Cubans.

The once-thriving tourism industry has been particularly hit hard. Cuban aviation officials recently warned that international airlines will no longer be able to refuel on the island. Last week, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to the country altogether, while other airlines announced delays and layovers in the nearby Dominican Republic.

In response, Cuba’s government has recently adopted rationing measures to preserve essential services—public health, food production and defense, as well as ration oil supplies for key sectors.

Fuel distribution companies have stated that sales will only be made in dollars and limited to about 5.25 gallons per customer. Other recent developments involve the closure of some tourist hotspots, shortening school days and slashing work weeks at state-owned companies.

While the stakes have never been higher, this tension between Cuba and the United States is nothing new.

Following decades of strict U.S. economic sanctions against Cuba, the largest island nation in the Caribbean has seen its economy struggle and become isolated from international trade.

Under Trump, this pressure has only been exacerbated.

As part of the “Donroe Doctrine,” Trump’s foreign policy in his second administration has been characterized by a desire to exert American influence in the Western Hemisphere.

In January, the United States conducted a military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the arrest of Maduro, a long-standing ally of the Cuban regime, on narco-terrorism charges.

In doing so, the United States gained leverage over Venezuela’s oil industry and immediately cut off its foreign adversaries, including Cuba, from the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

However, the Cuban connection to Venezuela is not limited to oil. This alliance, initiated by Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro, is a deep geopolitical partnership rooted in a shared socialist ideology and an anti-American sentiment. In exchange for heavily subsidized oil, Cuba has provided essential intelligence and security personnel to protect Venezuelan leadership.

During the American raid that captured Maduro and his wife, 32 Cuban soldiers and security personnel were killed in what is considered the largest loss of Cuban combatants in a foreign military operation since the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

Put simply, Cuba has lost both a strategic ally and an economic partner.

With regime change as a very real possibility, it remains to be seen what long-term effect this American blockade will have on the communist country. As Cubans suffer in the short term, one can only speculate as to how their country’s future unfolds.