Cuba shooting LIVE: Cuba names ‘terrorists’ on board US boat | UK | News
Tensions with the USA continue to escalate. Following the surrender of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by American military forces, US President Donald Trump launched a fuel blockade to stop the shipment of Venezuelan oil to the Latin American country in the grip of an energy crisis.
Now Cuba faces a “perfect storm” of infrastructure failures and extreme weather due to power outages that have plagued a nation plagued by a years-long energy crisis.
Now, fueled by Wednesday’s boat attacks, hostilities between the two countries appear to have reached boiling point.
The clashes came weeks after Trump imposed a blockade on oil exports to Cuba. He signed an executive order imposing punitive tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, exacerbating an already serious fuel crisis.
according to United Nations Human Rights OfficeThe fuel blockade has led to food shortages, disrupted water supplies to the country’s people and is pushing hospitals to the breaking point. With the government on the brink of collapse, ambulances are struggling to find fuel to respond to emergencies.
The suspension of aviation, with the Cuban government announcing in early February that it would no longer refuel foreign aircraft, had an immediate ripple effect on the country’s tourism industry, with regional Canadian airlines and Air Canada canceling all flights to Cuba. Russian aircraft carriers Rossiya and Nordwind followed suit just 48 hours later.
Cuban tankers have barely left the island’s shores for months, according to a New York Times analysis of shipping data and satellite images. The US military has seized all ships supporting Cuba, and its oil-rich allies have halted shipments or refused to come to the rescue, thanks to Trump’s punitive measures.
The siege tactic is the first effective blockade of Cuba by the United States since the Cuban Missile Crisis and appears to be forcing the country to pursue regime change by the end of the year, America’s ultimate goal. Trump has already warned Cuba to “make a deal before it’s too late.”
In January, Trump also shared a social media message suggesting that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American former Florida senator and son of Cuban exiles, should be Cuba’s president.
Trump shared this post with the following comment: “Sounds good!”
