The U.S. imperialist rulers are stepping up their suffocating oil blockade against the Cuban people and their threats to overturn Cuba’s socialist revolution, as the White House boasts about the “lethality” and “prowess” of the U.S. military in its bombing of Iran.
Cuba is “going to fall pretty soon,” President Donald Trump told CNN March 6. He was repeating the prediction that every U.S. president has tried to make a reality since Cuban workers and farmers took state power Jan. 1, 1959.
“We want to finish this one [Iran] first,” he said a day earlier. But it’s “just a question of time, and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba,” Trump said, turning to Jorge José Mas, a Cuban American billionaire businessman. His father, Jorge Mas Canosa, was the chairman of the Cuban American National Foundation, a rightist organization dedicated to overthrowing the Cuban Revolution.
“That’s going to be a great day,” Trump said, claiming the Cuban government “wants to make a deal so badly.” For over six decades the U.S. rulers have sought to overturn Cuba’s revolutionary government and reestablish capitalist property relations.
Havana’s decadeslong position has been in favor of normalizing relations with the United States on the basis of respect for Cuba’s sovereignty and self-determination. Washington has instead waged a relentless economic war against the Cuban people in its drive for “regime change.”
In its latest attempt, the White House tightened its economic chokehold on Cuba Jan. 29, threatening to impose punishing tariffs on goods from any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. To underscore the warning, the U.S. military has maintained a military and naval deployment in the Caribbean.
The tariff threat and military presence have been effective in deterring oil deliveries to Cuba. A tanker carrying 200,000 barrels of Russian oil on its way to Cuba turned away Feb. 25. Cuba didn’t receive oil from anywhere in January, aggravating the country’s lack of fuel. This is having a devastating impact on Cuba’s economy and all aspects of life on the island.
Meanwhile, the White House is stepping up threats to fabricate criminal charges against Raúl Castro and other top Cuban leaders in U.S. courts. This could be used in Washington’s smear campaign against Cuba and to justify further economic sanctions and aggression.
The Trump administration has also sought to isolate Cuba, pressuring governments in the region to end their relations with Havana and to medical programs with Cuba.
Without any explanation, the government of Ecuador declared members of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in the country “persona non grata” March 5. The decision was announced two days before the White House hosted a so-called Shield of the Americas conference at Trump’s Doral resort in Florida. It was attended by representatives of 13 Latin America and Caribbean countries.
Washington used the conference to deepen its military presence in the region under the banner of fighting drug cartels and “terrorist networks.” Trump threatened Havana, vowing, “I’ll take care of Cuba.”
U.S. attacks Cuba’s medical missions
The U.S. rulers in recent weeks have also stepped up their slanders against Cuba’s volunteer medical missions to other countries. Washington claims that Cuban medical personnel are victims of exploitation and human trafficking by the government. It seeks to deprive Cuba of badly needed foreign income used to provide basic services for working people at home. The governments of Venezuela, Guatemala, Honduras and Jamaica recently announced they are ending longstanding medical programs with Cuba, bowing to Washington’s demands.
Some 170 medical professionals left Honduras at the beginning of March. “It’s a crying shame that after 25 years of contributing to the health of the Honduran people, government officials and the media have launched a smear campaign and lies” against the brigade, said Juan Loforte, Cuba’s ambassador to Honduras.
Cuba’s medical aid to the people of Honduras dates back to 1974 in the wake of Hurricane Fifi, which killed thousands. In an elementary act of working-class solidarity Cuba sent a medical brigade, despite the fact that Honduras was ruled by a U.S.-backed military dictatorship at the time.
Cuban doctors returned to Honduras in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch left entire communities isolated and without access to medical attention. Cuban doctors went deep into the Honduran countryside where access to health care was largely nonexistent.
In 2020 during the COVID epidemic Cuban doctors worked in intensive care units in Honduran hospitals.
The Honduran government, aided by capitalist medical associations, sought to discredit the work of the Cuban medical personnel, questioning their qualifications and alleging some of them were spies.
“We spy on diseases, that’s what we do,” Armando Castillo, head of the brigade told the Honduran press as they waited at the airport to travel back to Cuba March 4. Cuban medical workers “investigate how to treat, save, and relieve the pain of others.”
“Each surgery we performed, every person who recovered their sight, and each smile we received in return were acts of human sovereignty that no foreign power can stain,” Dr. Madelín Hernández said on her return to Cuba.
“For us, what’s important is the huge warmth we received from the Honduran people,” Castillo said. Washington “will never forgive Cuba for exercising the right of all peoples to self-determination.”