The situation in Cuba has reached a critical point, which many observers call the biggest systemic breakdown since the revolution of 65 years ago. The island, which has been suffering from sanctions and interior failure for years, has been in complete energy and natural material isolation. What is presently happening in Havana and the state goes beyond the framework of the average crisis – it is simply a minute erstwhile Cuba's statehood in its current form becomes a large question mark, and Donald Trump does not hide that he intends to exploit this situation.
Total blackout: 10 million people without power
On Monday, the Cuban Electricity strategy (SEN) ceased to exist. As the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mining reported, there was a "total disconnection" of the network, which in practice meant a blackout for almost all inhabitants of the island. According to Reuters and AP, an accident affected about 10 million people in a country of 11 million citizens.
Daily life on the island was paralysed: urban communications stopped functioning, water supplies stopped and the net became inaccessible. The images from the Cuban streets are drastic – due to the deficiency of fuel, the car transport almost disappeared, and its place was taken by vehicles trapped in horses. method services are working to reconstruct power supply, but they admit that without a steady supply of energy natural materials, any effort to repair the network is only an ad hoc patch in the decaying system.
Penalties and blocking of oil supply
The energy crisis is not a abrupt phenomenon, but a consequence of coordinated diplomatic and economical action by the United States. The breaking point was the detention in January by the American army of Nicolás Maduro, the then president of Venezuela, or country which for decades was the largest oil supplier to the island. After taking control of Venezuelan oil wells by the US, the fuel tap for Havana was twisted. No oil transport has arrived in Cuba in over 3 months.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that Washington threatened to impose advanced tariffs on any another country that would decide to aid the island with resources. Mexico was under specified pressure, among another things, which, under American warnings, halted the export of fuel to Cuba. As a result, the island must trust on inefficient thermoelectric power plants and natural gas, which does not even cover a fraction of the nation's demand.
Donald Trump: "I will have the honor of taking over Cuba"
Faced with the agony of the Cuban political and economical system, the president of the United States Donald Trump presented his own imagination of the future of the island. In talks with journalists in the Oval Office he did not dress up in words, drawing the following image of the country: "Kuba is at the end of his strength. He's truly at the end of the road. There's no money, there's no oil, there's a incorrect ideology, a bad government that's long gone bad. (...) Cuba is experiencing its last moments in its current shape".
The president of the United States suggested that the agreement with the current authorities in Havana, which are already to hold talks with Marco Rubio and another representatives of the administration, is close. However, he did not refrain from adding further bitter words: "I believe that I will have the honour of taking over Cuba. Whether it is through her liberation or acquisition. I think I can do whatever I want with her."
Investment condition: full transformation
Although the Cuban authorities have late signalled their willingness to open the economy to abroad investments, including those originating in the United States, Washington puts tough conditions. Republican senators, specified as Carlos Gimenez, emphasize that without a profound and structural political change that would de facto mean the collapse of the current system, no financial means will be made to the island.
For Cuba, this means an impossible situation: either a full political surrender before the US, or continuing to operate in conditions of expanding humanitarian disaster, deficiency of medicine and progressive darkness. Donald Trump does not hide that time works in his favor, and taking the island under American influence treats it as a historical necessity and individual success.
