A mix of uncertainty, anger and fragile hope spread across Cuba on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump warned Washington could take ‘imminent action’ against the island’s government.
The administration, which has taken a tougher line toward Havana than recent predecessors, has effectively cut off key oil shipments in an effort to push for regime change. The resulting blockade has hit civilians hard: island-wide blackouts, fuel shortages and shortages of basic supplies are straining hospitals and crippling public transport.
‘Cuba is waiting for Trump and Marco Rubio, because we can’t wait any longer. It’s too much – there is a lot of repression, there is a lot of hunger,’ said 64-year-old Matilde Visoso, a single mother caring for a sick daughter. ‘Cuba is in tears.’
Trump has said he can do ‘whatever he wants’ with Cuba. The administration is pressing for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down as Washington continues negotiating with Havana, US officials and a source involved in the talks said on condition of anonymity. No names have been floated as possible replacements.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for Cuba’s socialist economic model to ‘change dramatically.’ While Havana keeps strict limits on the private sector, decades of US sanctions have also severely weakened the economy.
The current pressure on Cuba comes more than two months after the administration’s military raid that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, and weeks after joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
Díaz-Canel rejected Trump’s remarks on X late Tuesday, saying the United States ‘publicly threatens’ Cuba almost daily and warning any act of aggression ‘will clash with an impregnable resistance.’ The Cuban government also condemned Costa Rica’s decision to close its embassy in Havana, calling it an ‘arbitrary decision’ made under US pressure to isolate the island.
Not everyone expects direct US intervention. ‘Americans can say whatever they want. The ones who decide what is done here in Cuba are the Cuban people,’ said 62-year-old doctor Jesús García, expressing skepticism that Washington would be able to remove Díaz-Canel.
Many Cubans, long accustomed to recurring crises, say the latest pressures have pushed daily life to a breaking point. Small aid shipments from activist groups and allied governments provide limited relief: Cuban state television reported five tons of medical equipment, solar panels and other supplies arrived overnight, but such consignments are only a fraction of what’s needed to restore power and services.
‘Really, all of this has people very alarmed and in a bad state. No one knows what is going to happen,’ said 51-year-old María del Carmen Compañioni, summing up the unease as political tensions between governments play out while ordinary Cubans cope with soaring prices and scarce resources.
