A Russian tanker carrying 730,000 barrels of oil docked in Matanzas, Cuba, March 31. It was the first shipment of oil to arrive there since the administration of President Donald Trump imposed a blockade in January, threatening tariffs on any country that provides oil to the island.
Despite the crisis caused by the blockade, the Cuban people continue to demand respect for Cuba’s sovereignty and self-determination. The oil blockade is “a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism,” remarked Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister. “It’s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”
Trump has made clear that allowing one shipment of oil doesn’t mean any change to his threats to overturn Cuba’s socialist revolution. “Cuba’s finished,” he said. “Whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”
As the Russian ship approached Cuba March 30, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her country, which regularly sent oil to Cuba before the U.S. blockade, was considering doing so again.