Brutal Effects of U.S. Fuel Blockade
On May 18, prior to the announcement of the fraudulent indictment against Army General Raúl Castro, Cuban Foreign Minister and Political Bureau member Bruno Rodríguez asserted, "Cuba neither threatens nor desires war." Cuba "defends peace and is prepared to confront external aggression in the exercise of its right to self-defence, recognized by the UN Charter," he said and added,"Without any legitimate excuse, the U.S. government is building, day after day, a fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and the eventual military aggression."
In related news, on May 20, Cuba's Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, informed the population that Cuba has no remaining stocks of diesel or fuel oil, with only limited domestic gas production available. In his warning that the country has run out of diesel and fuel oil, he emphasized that U.S. sanctions and restrictions have left the island's power system in crisis. Pointing to the fact that shortages have led to blackouts of up to 20 to 22 hours in parts of Havana, he described the national energy situation as "critical." "The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none -- I am being repetitive -- the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown," de la O Levy told state TV.
President Díaz-Canel stated that this dramatic worsening has a single cause: "the genocidal energy blockade that the U.S. subjects our country to, threatening with irrational tariffs any nation that supplies us with fuel." Díaz-Canel explained that the spokespeople for the U.S. regime are trying to portray to the world that Cuba's problems are a direct consequence of mismanagement by the Cuban government when in reality they are the result of perverse U.S. measures intended to push the people's shortages and hardships to extreme levels. That is why they adopted an executive order that completely blocks fuel supplies to Cuba and another that persecutes and penalizes those who trade or invest on the island. It is a perverse scheme whose main objective is to inflict suffering on the entire Cuban people, to hold them hostage and turn them against the government, the President stated. "Our response remains the same: always open to dialogue on equal terms, we will continue to resist and build, increasingly convinced that it is up to us to overcome enormous difficulties through our own efforts, united as a nation, and resolute in facing the toughest challenges," Díaz-Canel said.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 34 - May 22, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T560346.HTM
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