President Donald Trump announced Sunday that his administration will permit a Russia-owned tanker carrying roughly 730,000 barrels of oil to reach Cuba, easing a fuel blockade that has intensified the island’s humanitarian crisis. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said, “if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem,” stepping back from an earlier threat to impose tariffs on nations that supply fuel to the island.
Cuba has reportedly received no oil imports since Jan. 9, a gap that has contributed to nationwide blackouts, food shortages and shortages of critical hospital supplies. Trump downplayed the impact of the incoming shipment, declaring, “Cuba is finished,” and criticizing the island’s leadership as corrupt and ineffective. He said whether the regime receives the cargo “is not going to matter.”
The New York Times reported the U.S. Coast Guard would not intercept the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin unless it received direct orders to do so. The vessel is expected to arrive by Monday night and could supply several weeks’ worth of fuel to the island.
In recent days international activists have delivered tons of food, medicine and other aid to Cuba, but observers say those efforts address only part of the damage caused by decades of U.S. economic pressure combined with the recent fuel restrictions.
The administration imposed the fuel blockade in January, labeling Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security. Earlier this month, Trump warned he might “take” Cuba by force, calling it a “very weakened nation,” remarks that prompted Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to promise “impregnable resistance.” Reports indicate U.S. officials have pressed for Díaz-Canel’s removal in talks with the Cuban government.
In Congress, Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) introduced legislation to prohibit use of federal funds for any attack on Cuba without explicit congressional authorization. Jayapal said unilateral military action would endanger Americans and Cubans, waste taxpayer dollars and exceed the president’s constitutional authority to declare war.
This article was originally published by Common Dreams and is republished under a Creative Commons license.
