19 February 2026. After Donald Trump’s military aggression against Venezuela, kidnapping Nicolás Maduro and his wife and leaving more than 100 people dead, US imperialism is deepening its imperialist counteroffensive on Latin America by imposing a criminal oil blockade on Cuba. The mechanism is simple: after agreeing with the Chavista government of Delcy Rodríguez to reform the Hydrocarbons Law to hand over oil to transnational corporations, Trump is using his control over Venezuela to paralyse oil shipments to the island and is threatening Mexico with sanctions if it does so. This policy is leaving Cuba without energy resources, severely exacerbating the crisis that has been plaguing the Cuban people for years.
Cuba is running out of fuel and electricity to guarantee the functioning of even the most basic social services. The lack of energy is forcing families to resort to firewood to cook their food. Public transportation has ground to a halt, airports are closed, and hospitals, schools, and food production and preservation could collapse, potentially leaving people without food. Trump’s plan and his criminal imperialist policy are a direct punishment of the Cuban people.
The island’s energy crisis is not only a product of the reprehensible embargo that the United States has imposed on Cuba since 1962. While the blockade and Trump’s current measures are pushing the energy crisis toward permanent collapse, the lack of energy is also a product of the policies implemented by the Díaz-Canel government and the destruction of the socialist gains of the 1959 revolution following the capitalist restoration driven by the bureaucracy of the Cuban Communist Party and the consequent abandonment of the obsolete energy generation system. Meanwhile, the luxury hotels that the government operates through joint ventures with transnational corporations siphon off significant resources.
The criminal blockade is a tool Trump is using to subordinate Cuba and other Latin American countries to his policies and agreements, aiming to reverse the economic crisis and the domination of U.S. imperialism by invoking the Monroe Doctrine. On 4 January, Díaz-Canel spoke on national television and acknowledged his willingness to negotiate with Trump. In Cuba, there is a risk that—just as the Chavista government of Delcy Rodríguez did in Venezuela—the one-party government (PC) of false socialism will agree to new measures with Trump behind the backs of the Cuban people. Far from resolving urgent social needs, these measures will deepen the crisis and further subordinate Cuba to U.S. imperialism.
The International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI) categorically repudiates the oil blockade imposed by Donald Trump, just as we fight to end the overall U.S. blockade. Beyond our differences with the Cuban government and its entire authoritarian regime, we call for the broadest possible mobilisation of the world’s people to demand an end to the oil blockade and the immediate shipment of oil so that the Cuban people have access to vital electricity and fuel. We condemn Trump’s blackmail and tariff pressure on other countries to prevent oil shipments and demand that the Mexican government of Claudia Sheinbaum and the so-called “progressive” governments, such as Lula’s in Brazil and Petro’s in Colombia, arrange for the immediate and free shipment of oil so that the Cuban people can address their urgent social needs.
International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
18 February 2026
