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Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, the national coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) and a former spy known as one of the so-called "Five Heroes," posted an ironic message on X this Thursday suggesting that if Washington wants to make a real "gesture" toward Cuba, it should send an oil tanker instead of the 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid offered by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Regarding the image of an oil tanker, Hernández wrote: “$100 million is not enough for two oil ships, but if the Yankees really want to make a gesture, they could send one. (I say).”
The regime official accompanied the image with another phrase that highlights the extent of the energy crisis the island is experiencing: "When the ship from Russia arrived, we had several days with very few blackouts, so..."
His words, as the former spy often does, come across as a mockery of the people. But of course, he belongs to the affluent class and does not suffer the hardships of those who sleep without air conditioning.
The reference is to the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin, which arrived at the port of Matanzas on March 31 with about 100,000 metric tons of crude oil —approximately 740,000 barrels— the first major supply in over three months.
That shipment was refined in Cienfuegos and began to be distributed on April 17, providing a brief relief from the blackouts.
However, the Russian fuel lasted little time: the very Minister of Energy, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted on Thursday that Cuba "does not have fuel or diesel to generate electricity," with an electrical deficit exceeding 2,000 MW and blackouts affecting 61% of the island.
Hernández's tweet directly responds to the offer announced by Rubio on May 7, when the State Department declared that the U.S. "will provide an additional $100 million in direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people, which will be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations."
The proposal initially faced rejection from the regime: Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla described it as a "fable," although the regime retreated this Thursday and stated that it was "willing to listen to the details of the offer and how it would be implemented."
The tweet from the former spy is not an isolated event: that same day he also responded to a report about Trump’s "frustration" with Cuba, writing: "Poorly advised on everything related to Cuba, they underestimate our people, and then they are surprised...".
Last Tuesday, I had already published that "Trump has no idea what is happening in Cuba," in a series of combative messages on social media that reflect the defiant tone the regime maintains even as the island plunges into its worst energy crisis in decades.
The Minister of Energy has acknowledged that Cuba needs eight ships similar to the Anatoly Kolodkin each month to sustain its electrical system, but the country only produces about 40,000 barrels daily against a demand of between 90,000 and 110,000.
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