They've been having fuel shortages since the collapse of the USSR, which were temporarily alleviated at the height of Venezuelan production int he early 2000s.

They've been having fuel shortages since the collapse of the USSR, which were temporarily alleviated at the height of Venezuelan production int he early 2000s. As Venezuelan production slid (due to the ham handed firing of striking workers by Chavez) relations started to thaw with the US in 2015-2016. At that time there was more wiggle room for trade. In 2017 that move was unilaterally reversed by the US, which I agree was bad policy. However Cuba has offshore oil which they've failed to develop, either with the help of Venezuela pre 2015 or with Pemex, Russian, or Chinese investment. The problem is that even when Cuba was trading with the USSR, Venezuela, Bolivia, China, etc. they never managed to build any local industry, and as such have nothing to trade for oil. None of these trade partnerships were effected by the embargo. If Cuba had any foreign reserves or anything at all to trade they could buy gas from any number of places that are opposed to uS interests. I agree the embargo sucks, but Cuba was letting crops rot in the field when they had oil. The government just sucks. They could have tried to regularize relations like Vietnam did in 1995 and implement pragmatic reforms, but they have continued to stay the course with ruinous policies in the name of political purity.