Hundreds of women marched in Cuba’s capital, Havana, to protest the de facto oil blockade and pressure campaign imposed on the island by the United States.
Banners and billboards at Tuesday’s demonstrations carried the slogan “Tumba el broccó,” or “break the blockade.” Many protesters waved Cuban flags, and some wore T-shirts with the hashtag #NoMasBloqueo, or “No more blockade.”
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The protests took place on what would have been the 96th birthday of the late Cuban revolutionary leader and former first lady Vilma Espin. She was the wife of President Raul Castro and sister-in-law of President Fidel Castro.
The demonstrations were led by senior officials from Cuba’s Communist government, including Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Chapman and Deputy Foreign Minister Josefina Vidal.
They denounced the US campaign against the Cuban government as a type of collective punishment.
“This abusive policy must stop,” Vidal told The Associated Press. “The Cuban people do not deserve this. This is the most comprehensive, comprehensive, and longest-running system of coercive measures ever imposed on an entire country.”
Upper limit on foreign crude oil
The Cuban government has organized protests in recent weeks to show opposition to policies introduced under US President Donald Trump.
Last Thursday, for example, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel joined demonstrators on bicycles and electric cars outside the U.S. Embassy in Havana to denounce the U.S.-led fuel shortage.
Since January, the Trump administration has sought to cut off Cuba from foreign oil imports as part of an effort to destabilize the government.
First, on January 11, President Trump announced that Cuba would no longer receive money or oil from Venezuela, a close regional ally, following the U.S. attack that led to the abduction and imprisonment of the South American country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
Then, on January 29, President Trump issued an executive order announcing tariffs on foreign governments that try to supply oil directly or indirectly to Cuba.
Since then, Cuba’s oil supplies from abroad have been effectively cut off. The blockade has eased slightly in recent weeks, with the Trump administration allowing Russian oil tankers to arrive at the port of Havana on March 30.
According to the International Energy Agency, as of 2023, approximately 58 percent of Cuba’s energy production will come from oil, and an additional 23.6 percent from natural gas.
Although Cuba produces some crude oil domestically, the majority of its oil supply comes from external sources. The International Energy Agency estimates that the country produces only 40.6 percent of its own oil supply, with 59.4 percent coming from abroad.
Cuba receives little foreign oil and has suffered at least two island-wide power outages in the last month. These power outages have deadly consequences as hospitals and other critical infrastructure lose the power they need to save lives.
Russia has announced plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba in defiance of the US blockade.
Pressure on Cuba’s leadership
But President Trump continues to put pressure on Cuba’s government, holding up Venezuela’s leadership change as an example he wants to emulate.
Since Maduro’s abduction, Venezuela has been led by interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who has largely agreed to cooperate with U.S. demands.
The United States has been embroiled in a war with Iran since February 28, and President Trump has repeatedly warned that Cuba is “next on the list of governments to confront.” In March, President Trump reiterated that position multiple times.
President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on March 16, “I believe we can have the honor of occupying Cuba,” and added, “I think I can do anything if I want to know the truth, whether it’s liberating Cuba or taking it.Cuba is a very weakened nation right now.”
Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign began during his first term in office, which ran from 2017 to 2021, and included tougher sanctions on the island.
Already since the 1960s, Cuba has faced a total embargo from the United States due to Cold War tensions.
The United States and Cuba have been negotiating in recent weeks to lift the recent oil blockade, and Vidal mentioned those negotiations in an interview during Tuesday’s march.
“We are at a very preliminary and early stage and there are still no systematic negotiations between the two governments,” Vidal told AFP, adding that “Cuba has always believed in dialogue” rather than confrontation.
Vidal helped lead previous negotiations that led to a brief détente under President Barack Obama in 2015, just before Trump was inaugurated for his first term. In comments to AFP, Vidal contrasted the current situation with previous negotiations.
At the time, she said: “We worked hard to build a relationship that, although not without differences, did not center around those differences.”
Tuesday’s demonstrations came a day after two progressive members of the U.S. Congress, Pramila Jayapal of Washington state and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, traveled to Cuba to meet with President Díaz-Canel over the blockade.
Díaz-Canel issued a statement to the US delegation, condemning the “criminal damage caused by the blockade” and the US’ “threat of further aggressive actions.”
Jayapal and Jackson issued a joint statement calling on Republican President Donald Trump to lift the lockdown, pointing out that energy shortages are causing food to rot, water pumps to stop working and patients to be left without treatment.
“We do not believe that the majority of Americans want this type of brutality and inhumanity to continue in the name of America,” they wrote.
