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Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo
- alterom 5mo agoIt's not like one needs to say blames here, as if it's just an accusation and there could be another cause for that. We also have no reason to doubt that Cuba has run out of fuel as a result of an embargo on fuel when the officials say so. It's not a surprise; it was the expected outcome and the entire point of the embargo. A better title would be: "Cuba jas run out of fuel due to the US embargo".
- reactordev 5mo agoEither way, no bueno.
- davydm 5mo agofunctionally the same - and more accurate to use the original title, as Cuba is the one doing the blaming. I don't know why you're standing up for this - it's more bad behavior from a country that sells itself as the savior, and it's not new - they've been doing this (whatever they need to, to change regimes) in other countries for decades. It's shameless bullying, and completely contravenes "the rules" about how to interact with other countries.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- jmclnx 5mo ago>It's not like one needs to say blames here, as if it's just an accusation and there could be another cause for that The US started the Oil Embargo and AFAIK it is still on-goimg. Cuba is running out of fuel. To me 2+2=4, so I say blame can be placed on the US :)
- dgacmu 5mo agoI believe the person you're replying to is criticizing the choice of title, by noting that the phrase "blames" is suggestive that there might be other causes, when there clearly is not (which they agree with you about).
- beepbooptheory 5mo agoThe point is the headline makes it this subjective accusation for Cuba, rather than, you know, a cause and effect thing. > Home burns down, residents blame a fire
- mlmonkey 5mo agoI don't really understand the point of the embargo. I am an American. Picking on a tiny country like Cuba serves no purpose. The elites in Cuba are not going to suffer; the normal people will. Instead of acting like a bully, I wish our government would be more magnanimous and just drop the embargo.
- jpadkins 5mo agocan't have communists in the western hemisphere. They give up authoritarian communism, we will be magnanimous.
- deadbolt 5mo agoCommunism must be absolutely incredible for such a small country to be such a threat to a superpower.
- kelseyfrog 5mo agoWe must rhetorically cast our enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak."[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urfascism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urfascism
- WarmWash 5mo agoThe US could not care less about Cuba being communist. They care a lot about Cuba being "open door communist bros" with the USSR, and now with China. If China moves on Taiwan, and the US moves to defend, and then a bunch of Chinese missiles hit the East Coast, people will wonder what the government was doing letting China set up camp right on our door step.
- anigbrowl 5mo agoThe irony of saying we should have the option to defend Taiwan but we can't tolerate China posing a threat in our backyard.
- WaxProlix 5mo agoWhat we're doing to the Cuban people with this blockade is criminal. I don't expect to see justice in my lifetime. What a miserable state of affairs.
- ReptileMan 5mo ago[flagged]
- pasquinelli 5mo agodoesn't surviving a 70 year embargo make you question how bad the communists really are?
- Manuel_D 5mo agoNo. The fact that the Cuban authorities s decided that further impoverishing Cuba is worth preserving their single-party communist regime demonstrates that it is indeed a bad government.
- vrganj 5mo agoIt's not the Cuban authorities that are impoverishing Cuba, that's just victim blaming. It is American imperialism, at least stand by your crimes.
- Manuel_D 5mo agoA boycott is a crime? The US has decided not the trade with Cuba, that's it. Cuba is still free to trade with any other country that's willing to trade with them.
- vrganj 5mo agoIt's not a boycott. It's an embargo. The US is boarding and seizing boats with supplies headed for Cuba. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/world/americas/venezuela-cuba-oil-tanker.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/world/americas/venezuela-...
- louwrentius 5mo agoThe humanitarian impact of this embargo is just one of the many stains on the USA that can never be removed.
- RiverCrochet 5mo agoCuba went through something similar in 1991: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Period
- wiradikusuma 5mo agoFrom the perspective of a layman, isn't this bullying? Don't we suppose to have the UN where nations.. unite?
- some_random 5mo agoNo, refusing to trade with an adversary nation isn't bullying.
- nso 5mo agoPunishing others for trading with another nation is bullying.
- reillyse 5mo agoIt's been established many times in this thread that the US is not just refusing to trade but 1) Forcing trading partners to also not trade 2) Physically boarding and seizing ships that are attempting to go to the island with cargos of oil. Yet you just keep repeating the stuff about it being just about not trading with the US.
- akramachamarei 5mo agoOn the contrary, this statement about force and boarding has been repeated and also countered numerous times. For one, I've yet to see the "forced" claim elaborated. Leveraging retaliatory tariffs is not an act of force--that is the only "force" action I've seen mentioned so far. Furthermore, the boarding and seizing has been credibly described as a police action to enforce false flag laws, i.e. maritime impersonation.
- culi 5mo agoThis is a blockade. It's explicit in Trump's executive order. Blows my mind how many americans don't or don't care that the explicit goal here is to starve human beings. It's literally a crime against humanity. One that only the US can get away with
- M95D 5mo ago
- asHqar 5mo agoThe US starves anyone it does not like from natural resources and subsequently makes them buy US natural resources. It has done this to the EU, now it is trying to do it to China and Cuba. This way they can control everyone.
- some_random 5mo agoThe US is explicitly not letting Cuba buy US goods, that's literally the only thing it's doing.
- dgacmu 5mo agoAs noted above: The US is threatening tariffs on any nation that sells oil to Cuba. That's quite different from simply refusing to trade with it, it's effectively preventing Cuba from buying oil from Mexico, among other sources.
- reillyse 5mo agoalso physically preventing ships from delivering fuel to the Island. It's all even more cynical and hypocritical when compared to the strait of Hormuz debacle, how can the US pretend that Iran must allow oil tankers unobstructed passage (international laws, ships at sea bla bla bla) when the US is deliberately preventing oil ships to travel to Cuba.
- amanaplanacanal 5mo agoAnd blockading Venezuelan oil from reaching the island. Don't forget that part.
- palmotea 5mo ago> And blockading Venezuelan oil from reaching the island. Don't forget that part. Is the new Venezuelan leader still trying to send Cuba oil? Or has she stopped that?
- 5mo ago
- ricardobeat 5mo agoIsn’t Cuba prime estate for solar, maybe wind too? A little gift from China could go a long way.
- ceejayoz 5mo agoAlready happening. https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/as-the-us-starves-it-of-oil-cuba-is-pulling-off-one-of-the-fastest-solar-revolutions-on-the-planet-with-chinas-help/ https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/as-the-us-starves-it-of...
- culi 5mo ago38% of it's electricity comes from solar. They've been ahead of the curve for a long time. But solar alone is not enough to meet energy security on an island nation
- xorgun 5mo agoI have no opinions on this matter, but what I do know is that most of the comments here deeply misunderstand the situation
- vrganj 5mo agoWhat the US is doing to Cuba and has been doing to it for the past 70 years is a horrible crime. What a lack of confidence in their own system to not allow fair competition between Cuban socialism and American capitalism. It feels similar to Putin invading Ukraine because he didn't like the example of an EU-aligned country prospering next door and the populace starting to ask difficult questions.
- ch4s3 5mo agoI can agree that the current de facto blockade of oil is an unwarranted act of aggression and that the embargo was bad policy but the embargo was hardly criminal. The premise of the embargo was that Cuba expropriated American property without compensation so congress was punishing the Cuban government in turn. Again, its bad policy but not really unusual or criminal per se. The embargo has also had a ton of carve out since the end of the Cold War and the US is the main supplier of agricultural good to Cuba. The Cuban government has also engaged in a lot of bad behavior over the decades that warrants some sort of international sanction. They fueled the Angolan Civil War and made the broader conflict far worse (it was sort of their Vietnam). They prop up the worst security states around Latin America, like SEBIN in Venezuela until very recently. They were also involved in helping rig elections and suppress dissent in a number of Latin American countries. > It feels similar to Putin invading Ukraine because he didn't like the example of an EU-aligned country prospering next door and the populace starting to ask difficult questions. This is a misreading of Putin's motivation IMHO. He states clearly over and over again that it's about a historical concept of greater and historic Russia. He has even stated publicly it has nothing to do with NATO. So this is a false equivalence.
- selivanovp 5mo ago>He has even stated publicly it has nothing to do with NATO. That's not true. It has always been about NATO absorbing Ukraine that is unacceptable to Russia. Putin warned about it since his Munich speech in 2007, that Georgia and Ukraine has to stay a military neutral countries or it'll result in a war with Russia. USA just decided that they may ignore it and do whatever they want anyway, pushing NATO in, after organizing "revolutions".
- some_random 5mo agoIt's so funny how much anti-americans cry about the US refusing to sell things to an adversary.
- amanaplanacanal 5mo agoIf you think that's the only thing going on, you are missing a lot.
- eschulz 5mo agoCuba has received shipments of oil and humanitarian goods from Mexico and Russia just this year, and I don't believe that the US has done anything to stop that (although the US has heavily sanctioned Russia in general for years now). However, those good received this year appear to have been free of charge. I'm wondering if the US is solely to blame for Cuba being completely unable to pay for the oil it needs. Obviously the US embargo on Cuba is devastating for its economy, but other states impacted by US sanctions in a similar manner seem to get by with essential good like food, oil, and medicine. Cuba is in a poor economic spot, but the US does not appear at all to be using its military to prevent them from trade with other nations.
- daedrdev 5mo agoThe US has had an embargo on Cuba for a long time that exempted Food and Medicine, while other countries freely traded with Cuba. However, under the Trump admin it has turned into a de-facto blockade of all fuel, which really isn't the embargo, it's a new blockade by the US against Cuba. So I don't get why we blame it on the embargo when the current problems are clearly caused by the blockade. Cuba's previous economic problems are driven by a complete lack of economic reforms, as unnamed Chinese officials said in this FT article two years ago: https://www.ft.com/content/9ca0a495-d5d9-4cc5-acf5-43f42a9128b4 https://www.ft.com/content/9ca0a495-d5d9-4cc5-acf5-43f42a912... "China publicly supports Cuba’s right to choose its own path to economic development “in line with its national conditions”, but privately Chinese officials have long urged the Cuban leadership to shift from its vertically planned economy to something closer to the Chinese model, according to economists and diplomats briefed on the situation. Chinese officials have been perplexed and frustrated at the Cuban leadership’s unwillingness to decisively implement a market-oriented reform programme despite the glaring dysfunction of the status quo, the people said." I agree what the US is doing is horrible, but Cuba is not blameless on their overall situation
- simpaticoder 5mo agoYeah it's crazy when the CCP expresses frustration that you're not doing more capitalism... As an aside, I'm surprised that computers wouldn't make centralized economies more doable. It might not be good but at least the people wouldn't be starving and dying because hospitals are out of electricity.
- janderson215 5mo agoIsn’t electricity a prerequisite for computing?
- norwegiandemon 5mo agoThis was tried with computers, and failed. In Bolivia I believe. I just watch a video on YouTube recently (don't have the link handy but a simple search should find it no problem) that explains why it's not a computational problem and when tried again with AI it still fails.
- EcommerceFlow 5mo agoThe current advancement of technology and warfare has opened up fascinating opportunities for powerful nations (USA). For example, given the extremely sophisticated targeting capacities of Palantir, how out of realm would taking out the entire Castro family be? I'm not talking about the morality, but simply the military options now available to the President.
- WarmWash 5mo agoThere is a point where you are so weak, and your opponent is strong, that the best outcome for everyone on the whole is for you to just capitulate. Surrender. I don't know if there is something I am missing, but to me, the "bad guy" in a situation like this is the one holding onto power at everyone else's (extreme) expense, throwing their own team into the fire to keep their power in place as long as possible.
- j_maffe 5mo agoGreat victim blaming
- WarmWash 5mo agoThe victims are the innocent people being shredded in the middle of it, I don't see where I am blaming them
- akramachamarei 5mo agoWe should really be thinking of the situation in terms of individuals instead of nations. Whatever capitulation we're talking about, there's no reason to assume that the Cuban governments shares the same opinions as Cubans. The actions and interests of the government and Cubans are separate, and incur separate blameworthiness.
- morkalork 5mo agoRapist mentality
- WarmWash 5mo agoMaybe? Like the dictator will let their people suffer while having the power to stop it? I'm not sure I follow, but suppose it kind of fits
- morkalork 5mo ago>you are so weak, and your opponent is strong, that the best outcome for everyone on the whole is for you to just capitulate. Surrender. Sounds pretty rapey to me. I certainly hope you've never made similar remarks to a date before.
- legitster 5mo agoThe embargo on Cuba is unbelievably silly in 2026: - The Cold War is over and Cuba poses no security risk - Florida is no longer a swing state and appeasing Cuban Americans is not a worthwhile political move - We are willing to ally with much more oppressive regimes for less geopolitical benefits - Cuba was in the process of liberalizing and developing an independent middle class for the first time in half a century before Trump's last crackdown. The jury is out on whether the "regime change" (or more like, junior dictator promotion) in Venezuela was worthwhile. It's certainly looking like a quagmire in Iran. By hardballing GAESA, we're probably shooting ourselves in the foot by making the Cuban population more resentful of the US. "Regime change" is a less likely positive outcome than it was 8 years ago. But we have plenty of models of military dictatorships slowly opening up to becoming stable economies through trade and access. More or less that's what happened with Vietnam, to name one.
- BobaFloutist 5mo agoMy impression is that while the final outcome is yet to be seen, Syria's current administration is a decent example of a government that one would naively expect to be fairly regressive recognizing the power and prosperity granted by liberalization.
- sieabahlpark 5mo ago[dead]
- davidfekke 5mo agoHere are some facts about Cuba and oil. The Cuban government was getting free oil from Venezuella. That ended on Jan. 3rd. Cuba was taking that oil, and reselling most of it on the open oil market. Cuba also has their own oil wells, so they can produce oil if they need it. Cuba was also having power outages prior to Jan 3rd. Cuba also used to have the best economony in the Caribbean prior to 1959 when the Castro's took over. They switched from a free market ecomony to a state run socialist economy.
- rastrojero2000 5mo agoThe chinesse should just supply them with a shitload of wind turbines and solar panels. Syphillitic Mumm-ra is deathly afraid of those so he's likely to leave them alone.
- jocelyner 5mo ago[dead]