Cuba is in the grip of an acute fuel crisis because the U.S. is choking its supply. Jet fuel has disappeared from airports, and hospitals and schools are rationing power, facing blackouts across the island. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel named this for what it is, an ‘energy blockade’ that hits every sector of society. It’s indefensible.

For years, Venezuela supplied most of Cuba's oil, part of a co-operative exchange for Cuban doctors and medical aid. The intensified sanctions on Venezuela and the outrageous kidnapping of President Maduro severed that lifeline. At the end of January, Trump signed an executive order to threaten any country selling oil to Cuba. Even Mexico reportedly halted oil shipments under U.S. tariff threats. Russia, Cuba's other major supplier, last delivered fuel in February 2025 and is only now discussing further aid. The island is being squeezed from all sides and the U.S.’s message to others is, “isolate Cuba completely or pay the price.”

Trying to crush Cuba has been a lifelong obsession for Marco Rubio, who along with Trump is leading the charge on the energy blockade. This is part of the Trump administration’s recent playbook of clumsily but brutally attempting to strong-arm other countries, friends and foes, into bending to the will of Washington. These are the maneuvers of an empire in decline.

For nearly sixty-five years socialist Cuba has stood proud and firm, with the people defending their revolution and the socialist system they built. In the face of every hardship, that system has continued to advance the vision of a society by and for working people. Guaranteeing the things that make a dignified future for everyone—healthcare, education, housing—are at the center of that vision.

Older generations of Cubans remember what came before the revolution. It was a nightmare for everyday people and a playground for foreign elites—a U.S.-backed dictatorship and crushing poverty for the many while a few lived like kings. The Cuban people have dared to build a society where people come before profit, and they are not going back.

The U.S.’s endless sanctions, attempts at destabilization, and now strangling the energy that powers the island, makes ordinary Cubans suffer, and that’s the point. We condemn this act of aggression and stand with Cuba against US imperialism.

End the blockade!

Long Live Socialist Cuba!