Cuba halts flights as jet fuel shortage deepens under Trump sanctions

Cuba’s communist-run government faces its biggest test since the revolution Collapse of the Soviet Union.

US President Donald Trump has intensified pressure on the Caribbean island since the military operation that took place on January 3 to arrest the Venezuelan president. Nicolas Maduroa long-time ally of the Cuban government. Cuba said 32 of its citizens They were killed in the attack.

Trump It has since effectively cut off Cuba’s supply of Venezuelan oil, and has called on its government to “An unusual and unusual threatIt pledged to impose customs duties on any country that supplies it with oil.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel condemned the move and said: “Giving up is not an optionHe has since said that the government is ready to hold talks with Washington, but “without pressure or preconditions.”

The country has to caution International airlines will not be able to refuel in the country due to fuel shortages. A grabbed it The economic crisis worsensThe Cuban government recently adopted rationing measures to protect essential services and fuel supplies to key sectors.

the plan It is said It includes imposing restrictions on fuel sales, closing some tourist establishments, shortening school days and shortening the work week in state-owned companies to four days, from Monday to Thursday.

“The current situation in Cuba is as dangerous as it has been since the 1990s, when Cuba was suddenly forced to survive without the support of the Eastern Bloc,” Par Coomaraswamy, a professor of Latin American studies at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, told CNBC via email.

Coomaraswamy said Trump’s tariff threats have served as a deterrent to many countries.

Mexico has sent humanitarian aid but suspended oil shipments, as it sought to preserve its relationship with Havana while avoiding tariffs imposed by Trump.

Coomaraswamy said there was “of course frustration with the difficulties of daily life,” but “many Cubans are determined to resist threats to their national sovereignty, and a new wave of patriotism has emerged.”

Air Canada After that, all flights were cancelled to Cuba amid fuel shortages, although the airline said Monday it would repatriate about 3,000 customers already in the country over the coming days.

Tourism is an important source of income for the Cuban government, which is suffering from financial hardship, and the country is a popular winter vacation destination for Canadian tourists.

Unlike in previous crises, the Cuban regime lacks foreign partners who can step in to help, according to Robert Monks, head of US research at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.

Adding to the risks, the United States also restricted Cuba’s access to hard currency and pressured Nicaragua to do so. Ending visa-free travel “For the Cubans,” Monks told CNBC via email.

Monks said the government’s pledge to increase the use of limited renewables was likely to be “too little, too late”. He added that civil unrest was likely, given that the island’s domestic energy production was far below what it needed to keep the lights on.

“The accelerating collapse of basic services will put the regime under intense pressure to reach a negotiated solution,” Monks said.

He added that “the odds are getting smaller” that Díaz-Canel will be forced from power in the coming months in a Maduro-style managed transition, but Monks said the regime was likely to “try to push through” until the US midterm elections in November.

Dwindling oil supplies in Cuba last week prompted the United Nations to warn of a possible humanitarian “collapse.”

He added, “The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Cuba, which will worsen, if not collapse, if its oil needs are not met.” He said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman He said Tuesday that Beijing “stands firmly against inhumane actions that deprive the Cuban people of their right to live and develop.” They added that China would “as always” seek to provide assistance to Cuba.

At the same time, Russia described the fuel situation in Havana as “really critical” and said that American attempts to put more pressure on the country are causing many problems.

“The Cuban government will not submit,” Yaffe said. “The truth is, [the U.S. is] “We will continue to press, the Cubans will continue to resist, and there will be a lot of unnecessary suffering.”

“I’m a historian and it’s very arrogant for historians to try to predict the future, but we can look at trends – and I can assure you we’ve been here before in the early 1990s where no one thought Cuba was going to pull together and succeed – and they did,” she added.