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Various foreign media outlets, including Reuters, report that Cuba is preparing for a worsening of its economic and energy crisis following recent actions by the United States against oil vessels linked to Venezuela and amid a diplomatic and military offensive in the region.
According to the agency Reuters, the Cuban population faces the possibility of intensified power outages and fuel shortages after Washington seized two oil tankers carrying crude linked to Venezuela.
One of them, flying a Russian flag, was intercepted in the Atlantic after a two-week chase.
These measures are in addition to a widespread blockade on sanctioned vessels entering and leaving Venezuelan waters, which has been in place since last December.
Cuba relies heavily on Venezuelan oil, which covered roughly half of its energy deficit.
The interruption of those supplies has raised fears that prolonged and frequent blackouts will worsen, especially in areas like the port of Matanzas, where shortages are already evident.
The context of these tensions is broader and extends to the island, where the population received the news that 32 Cuban soldiers died defending Maduro last Saturday like a bucket of cold water.
In parallel, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has denounced U.S. actions, describing them as "state terrorism" and violations of international law, particularly referring to the seizure of the vessel Marinera and other actions aimed at disrupting the flow of crude oil to Cuba.
The island maintains that the reduction of Venezuelan oil —in addition to its own structural challenges— exacerbates a crisis characterized by inflation, scarcity of goods, and prolonged power outages.
In the face of an uncertain energy outlook, other international reports have highlighted that the complex logistics network of sanctioned oil, including the reflagging of ships and the use of opaque fleets to evade controls, continues to evolve and adds another layer of pressure on the supplies reaching countries like Cuba.
Pressures on Mexico also intensified, as it has become the main oil supplier to the Caribbean nation.
The day before, the EFE Agency quoted the leader of the Democratic minority in the U.S. Senate, Chuck Schumer, who expressed his concern about the responses received from the Donald Trump Administration regarding the possibility that Washington might also conduct military operations in countries like Cuba and Colombia.
He stated that he and other lawmakers held a meeting at the Capitol with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and said, "I was very disappointed with his response," Schumer replied to a journalist.
Trump opined on Saturday that Miguel Díaz-Canel's government in Cuba is "on the verge of collapse" and that he does not believe any "action is needed" from the United States in the island.
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