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Cuba's national electric grid collapses, leaving millions without power
- bitwize 7mo ago"Communism can never work," says leader of country that routinely sabotages or outright overthrows communist governments.
- rayiner 7mo agoHow is the U.S. "sabotaging" Cuba? The U.S. simply prevents capitalistic American companies from doing business with Cuba. Regardless, the fact that communism doesn't work was proven decades ago by China's shift to authoritarian state-managed capitalism. Singapore, South Korea, and, ironically, Vietnam are other examples that show that model works really well at pulling third-world countries out of poverty.
- craftkiller 7mo ago> How is the U.S. "sabotaging" Cuba? The U.S. simply prevents capitalistic American companies from doing business with Cuba. It is not just American companies. It is a blockade: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cuban_crisis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cuban_crisis
- rayiner 7mo agoYou're pointing to the blockade of Venezuelan oil which just started. How does that explain the failure of Cuba to develop for the six decades before that?
- MattDamonSpace 7mo agoCould you imagine Cuba with the per capita GDP of Florida? Geopolitical and sovereignty awkwardness aside (big aside I know)…. it’s obvious Cuba, and especially the average Cuban, would benefit immensely from the island becoming a US state, no?
- xp84 7mo agoIn an alternate universe, instead of the Castro 1959 takeover, a pro-US faction took over and requested annexation, and was accepted, since 1950s Americans all would have thought it was cool to have another cool tropical island paradise state. The Hawaii of the east coast! If anyone thinks Cuba is better off in any metric now than they would have been in that alternate reality, I’d love to hear why.
- disgruntledphd2 7mo ago> If anyone thinks Cuba is better off in any metric now than they would have been in that alternate reality, I’d love to hear why. I mean, pre-Castro Cuba was basically a playground for the US rich. Like, the whole revolution was about kicking those people out. Personally, I think that's morally justified, but I don't agree that what the US has done to them since then is morally justified. Obviously people differ on their opinions of this stuff, but collective punishment (which is what the US embargoes are) is generally regarded as a war crime.
- rayiner 7mo ago> Obviously people differ on their opinions of this stuff, but collective punishment (which is what the US embargoes are) is generally regarded as a war crime The definitions really keep mutating on the left don’t they. Economic sanctions are a “war crime,” “silence is violence,” etc.
- cherry_tree 7mo ago> 2019, the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute adopted an amendment to the definition of war crimes applicable in NIAC detailed in article 8(2)(e). The new article (8(2)(e)(xix) prohibits the intentional use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including the deliberate prevention of relief. Fuel for cooking food and providing heat is necessary for survival; deliberate prevention of this aid from reaching Cuba is a war crime.
- 7mo ago
- craftkiller 7mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_... > companies that do business with the U.S. which trade in Cuba do so at the risk of U.S. sanctions. The U.S. has threatened to stop financial aid to other countries if they trade non-food items with Cuba. > The U.S. government has pursued extraterritorial measures to enforce its embargo. Cuban ambassador Ricardo Alarcón cited 27 recent cases of trade contracts interrupted by U.S. pressure to the U.N. in 1991. British Petroleum was seemingly dissuaded by U.S. authorities from investing in offshore oil exploration in Cuba despite initially expressing interest. In 1992, the U.S. State Department discouraged firms like Royal Dutch Shell and Clyde Petroleum from investing in Cuba.
- cherry_tree 7mo agoFrom “how is the us sabotaging Cuba?” To “but that just started” in one message. Fantastic stuff, hope you didn’t pay much for that law degree.
- rayiner 7mo agoIn law school, we learn that context is important! OP said: “‘Communism can never work,’ says leader of country that routinely sabotages or outright overthrows communist governments.” It’s not like Cuba was working great until February 2026.
- cherry_tree 7mo agoThe context being that you _knew_ the US is sabotaging Cuba right now, but still acted as if it was an outlandish assertion. It shows you are presenting arguments in bad faith.
- rayiner 7mo agoWhat’s bad faith is trying to wave away Cuba’s failure since 1959 by pointing at something Trump did last month.
- TimorousBestie 7mo agoIf that’s your real objection, you’re responding to the wrong commenter. What you’ve written is not a position they have advanced here.
- rayiner 7mo agoWhich poster are you talking about? The original post from which this stemmed, which I was responding to, was about whether communism ever worked. Insofar as Cuba is a poster child for communism not working, it’s not because of anything Trump did in 2026.
- oa335 7mo ago
- skeledrew 7mo ago> How is the U.S. "sabotaging" Cuba? Is this for real? There has been a blockade on Cuba for decades. Any country that wants to do business with them is threatened, implicitly or explicitly. Look at how Venezuela, their primary supplier of oil, was recently invaded and taken over, and the shipments stopped.
- rayiner 7mo agoThere has not a “blockade on Cuba for decades.” Cuba’s largest trading partners are China, Germany, and Spain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Cuba.
- TheAlchemist 7mo agoIs this a serious question ? Read this first: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Cuba https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_... Recently, the U.S. decided that Cuba can no longer import any oil, and they are enforcing that. Is this a surprise that the grid collapses in those circumstances ? Communism is bad (I'm from Eastern Europe...), but this collapse has nothing to do with communism. It has everything to do, with the U.S. deciding unilaterally that Cuba needs to fall.
- sQL_inject 7mo ago"The main responsibility of every Soviet citizen was to facilitate the arrival of Communism, where people would contribute to society according to their abilities, and receive from society according to their needs -- has there ever been a nobler sounding goal? And yet historians cannot agree on an estimate of many millions of people were starved to death, tortured to death, or worked to death, all in the name of that goal."
- PickledHotdog 7mo agoAnd yet millions of people starve, are tortured and are worked to death in the name of Capitalism. How many die or are made destitute due to lack of affordable healthcare in the US alone? Not to mention the trillions of dollars (and lives) given up in the pursuit of halting what we're told is a fragile, prone-to-collapse form of government for a hundred years now. Strange that.
- 9864247888754 7mo ago[flagged]
- sQL_inject 7mo agoI'm not sure where or by whom you you were told it's a fragile, prone-to-collapse form of government, but I wasn't. Communism has a stranglehold on the societies it spawns within because the elite keep it that way. Show me a country that espouses true Communist principles and I'll show you ten successful Capitalist ones. Don't confuse corporatism with capitalism, the latter which is the free exchange of ideas and goods mutually beneficial to both parties in an open market. The US's enemies keep Cuba on life support for one reason. Work a day in the gulag for your pithy apple ration and you'll be begging to sit in an air conditioned office and choose from ten apple varieties at different prices at your local Corporate Grocer.
- mindslight 7mo ago> I'll show you ten successful Capitalist ones Could you please list these ten countries even if I cannot show you a country that espouses true Communist principles? Please do keep in mind though: > Don't confuse corporatism with capitalism, the latter which is the free exchange of ideas and goods mutually beneficial to both parties in an open market. Directly stated: the problem I see is that term Capitalism is basically used as a Motte and Bailey. It seems to be the least worst option, and it certainly has benefited us greatly. But that doesn't mean it should escape criticism - especially as it lists further and further into what you're calling "corporatism"
- lefrenchy 7mo agoAm I crazy for thinking this is possibly a US cyber attack on the infrastructure to justify Trump's coming actions?
- 3eb7988a1663 7mo agoUhh yes? The country has been blockaded from receiving fuel. While there could be a more clever attack, the overt one is enough to do all of the damage.
- SR2Z 7mo agoThe country has categorically not been blockaded. A blockade is an act of war where a country prevents all trade regardless of origin. Cuba has been embargoed which prevents US owned businesses, as well as any businesses which operate in the US, from trading with it. An embargo is not an act of war, it's a way for market economies to apply economic pressure using their soft power. It's not enforced by the military away from the territory of the country placing the embargo and is instead enforced domestically using the police. Large oil-producing countries that traded with Cuba include Venezuela, Russia (the USSR before 1990), China, and Iran. Market democracies are all pretty OK with the embargo, because trade with a country that doesn't recognize property rights is inherently fraught.
- schumpeter 7mo agoTechnically the US did blockade Cuba from receiving oil, specifically from Venezuela. Blocking tankers, boarding them, and even confiscating them. The embargo continues, as it has for decades, but the oil blockade is a real thing.
- SR2Z 7mo agoYou make that sound like the US has been stopping Venezuelan tankers for decades. It hasn't, that's a Trump special. Cuba's energy insecurity goes back a lot longer.
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- aaron695 7mo ago[dead]
- DivingForGold 7mo agoCubans have horses and depend on then a lot. Why not have horses or oxen running around in a circle or the method in this video for powering a generator or alternator ? https://youtu.be/dpq3tXz0QoI?t=217 https://youtu.be/dpq3tXz0QoI?t=217
- schumpeter 7mo agoHaving family in Cuba, I guess this could work, but it doesn’t scale, because someone will inevitably steal your horses for dinner, when you aren’t looking.
- dandelany 7mo agoMaybe in a pinch, doesn't seem very sustainable. A single decent 400 watt solar panel produces about the same continuous power as a horse, and doesn't consume 20 lbs of hay per day, or pee on your generator.
- hnburnsy 7mo ago[flagged]
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- dzonga 7mo agoCuba should've learned from China. Communism with Cuban characteristics. Then got energy independent-- by importing a lot of solar panels, wind turbines from China. then they wouldn't be suffering an energy embargo from the US. for the few cases they need hydrocarbons import from Russia.
- JohnnyLarue 7mo ago[dead]
- xp84 7mo agoChina first got a lot of money by exporting billions (trillions?) of dollars of stuff to the whole world with their huge labor force (and presumably a lot of raw materials either homemade or imported). Cuba doesn’t have that ability. An alternative plan: Cuba could also, at any point, have given up on Communism and rejoin the rest of the world. Even China sold out a lot of its communist ideals if we’re being honest, which helped the West feel pretty okay doing business with them.
- poulpy123 7mo agoAnd Cuba is a small island next to the US, not a massive juggernaut on the other side of the world
- skeledrew 7mo ago> Cuba could also, at any point, have given up on Communism Why should they? If it wasn't for the decades of sabotage it would've been working for them reasonably. Should they succumb to the bullying from another country that hates their ideals?
- xp84 7mo agoAh yes, the “Communism would be working out perfectly, if it weren’t for everybody else sabotaging us!” rationalization. Are there, have there ever been, any examples of real communist states where most of the commoners are not in poverty?
- JohnnyLarue 7mo ago[dead]
- g8oz 7mo agoThe lawless bully nation known as the United States is strangling Cuba. They manufactured this crisis by threatening sanctions on anyone who sends oil to the country. An act of outrageous imperial aggression.
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- haght 7mo ago[flagged]
- ZunarJ5 7mo agoRead The Jakarta Method.
- burnt-resistor 7mo agoJust like overthrowing Iran's, Mosaddegh because Cuba's, Maduro, et. al. litany of past and current regimes globally aren't slavishly servile, Cuba's, Iran's, Venezula's, and many other peoples suffer because an imperial superpower is denied extraction of money, resources, and compliance from a government, its land, and its people. Cuba Plunged Into a Nationwide Blackout Trump demands taking it or overthrowing regime; testimonials from a local and a visitor (video, English) begins at 35:56 https://democracynow.cachefly.net/democracynow/360/dn2026-0317.mp4 https://democracynow.cachefly.net/democracynow/360/dn2026-03... (SD, mp4) https://ewheel.democracynow.org/dn2026-0317.mp4.torrent https://ewheel.democracynow.org/dn2026-0317.mp4.torrent (HD, torrent of mp4) * https://archive.org/details/dn2026-0317_vid https://archive.org/details/dn2026-0317_vid * * Available several hours from time of writing Protesters Reportedly Attack Communist Party Office in Cuba as Energy Crisis Deepens (yesterday) https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/16/headlines/protesters_reportedly_attack_communist_party_office_in_cuba_as_energy_crisis_deepens https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/16/headlines/protesters_...