The United States under President Donald Trump is escalating pressure on Cuba, combining an economic blockade with military threats. Following the removal of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, Trump has turned his attention to the island, boasting that 'Cuba is next' and claiming he can do 'anything I want' to the country. The US oil blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis, with nationwide blackouts sparking rare protests, school closures, and hospitals struggling to treat patients.
US surveillance flights are circling Cuba, and reports indicate federal prosecutors are preparing an indictment for former president Raúl Castro, now 94. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, recently travelled to Havana to demand 'fundamental changes', including economic reform, closure of Chinese and Russian intelligence posts, and reportedly the removal of President Miguel Díaz-Canel. The Trump administration aims to reinforce its control over the Americas, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American, taking a hard line.
The decades-long US embargo has been punitive, but Cubans' anger also targets their own leaders for failing to implement promised economic reforms during the Obama-era thaw. A disastrous 2021 currency restructuring, combined with intensified US sanctions and a violent crackdown on protests, has eroded faith in the revolution. Cuba's deputy prime minister, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, has expressed openness to US business ties in key sectors, but Washington deems this insufficient.
While some in Cuba's leadership favour a deal with the US, critics warn that massive private sector expansion and foreign investment on Washington's terms would benefit US businesses and a few well-connected figures, not Cubans generally. The island faces ongoing collapse, a potential sordid deal, or worst of all, a military attack. Trump talks of 'taking' Cuba, but the island belongs to its people, who deserve dignified change and opportunity.
