Mark Howell
Cuba, a country of only 10 million people, is under a daily barrage of threats from President Trump, backed up by his ever increasing pressure on other countries to keep the Cuba in the grip of a suffocating siege.
The current pressure points are oil, leading most devastatingly to power cuts, and the return of doctors working overseas, leading to a shortage of foreign currency with which to pay for imports.
This week an electricity blackout began on Monday nationwide and lasted for days in some parts3. The oil shortage has led to cuts in the number fights in and out of the country. It has also interfered with the storage of temperature-sensitive medicines.
Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel last Friday reported talks underway with the US government “based on mutual respect”. The talks are being conducted on Cuba’s behalf by two great-nephews of Fidel Castro, one of whom was last year nominated by the communist party to succeed Diaz-Canel. There have been reports this week from the White House that US terms for a deal include his removal.2
The pressure to send back doctors is slow to produce results1. The countries concerned are much in need of Cuban doctors. The US State Department is offering countries that agree to stop employing Cuban doctors, support for “infrastructure modernization,” like telemedicine and virtual training, as well as help in turning to “ethical third-country recruitment” of medical workers (“ethical” undoubtedly meaning servile to US policy).
Honduras and Jamaica have been among the first of the countries that have cancelled their programmes. Most countries are reluctant to turn their back on Cuba and inflict hardship on their own populations at the same time, because they have no proper alternative source of doctors to turn to.
The international pressure is such that Cuba could be more popular in America than it is overseas. Cuba’s de facto ambassador to the United States, Lianys Torres Rivera, said in an interview: “the main world superpower is trying to strangle a tiny economy, a tiny country, an island that is not a threat for the United States. It’s difficult to find partners.” Yet a recent opinion poll4 found that only about one-quarter (28%) of Americans approve of the current policy of blocking oil shipments to Cuba from other countries.
There are still loyal countries willing and able to resist US pressure. Two tankers carrying crude oil are on their way to the island after Russia declared its “unwavering solidarity.”
The London Branch is focusing its next branch meeting at 7.30 pm on Thursday 26 March on Cuba, join the branch to hear from speakers on zoom here. Speakers:
Bernard Regan, National Secretary of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, has led trade union delegations to Cuba, and is also a trustee of the National Education Union. He is the author of ‘The Balfour Declaration: Empire, the Mandate and Resistance in Palestine’ (2018).
Claudia Turbet-Delof, a Hackney councillor, feminist, community organiser and proud Bolivian-Londoner. After arriving in London, she worked as a cleaner in homes and offices across the city, witnessing first-hand the precariousness and exploitation of the expanding gig economy. She is driven by a lifelong commitment to dignity, workers’ rights and collective power and has engaged in struggles in Latin America over several years. She recently returned from Cuba where she visited relatives.
There will be time for Q&A. Support Cuba Solidarity, here.
- https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/cuban-doctors-us-pressure-00827683?ref=focusamerica.it
- https://calgaryherald.com/news/world/cuba-us-talks-political-system/wcm/72a746bb-898c-48a8-a95d-96fabc74493e
- https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/16/americas/cuba-power-grid-collapse-intl-latam
- https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/54332-more-americans-disapprove-than-approve-of-the-us-blocking-oil-shipments-to-cuba-and-the-us-embargo