🇷🇺 🇨🇺 🇺🇸 Russia to Ship “Humanitarian” Oil to Cuba, Defying Trump’s Tariff Threats

Russia is preparing to ship oil and petroleum products to Cuba as “humanitarian aid,” despite US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose additional tariffs on countries that supply fuel to the island, The Moscow Times reported on February 12, citing Russian media.

Russia’s embassy in Havana told a Russian media outlet that the delivery is expected in the near future, though officials did not disclose volumes. The move comes as Cuba faces a deepening fuel crisis, with imports largely halted for nearly a month and reserves close to exhaustion.

Analysts cited by Russian outlets said Cuba could last no more than about 20 days without new imports. Mexico, which sent the last cargo on January 9, reportedly froze exports after Trump’s warnings, while Venezuela—previously the second-largest supplier stopped shipments after it’s leader Nicolas Maduro was detained by the US on January 3.

The Moscow Times noted that Russia’s last major delivery to Cuba took place in February 2025, when 100,000 tons of crude were shipped under a $60 million state loan approved by Putin. At Cuba’s average consumption of around 37,000 barrels per day, experts said such volumes would cover only several weeks without strict rationing.

https://united24media.com/latest-news/russia-to-ship-humanitarian-oil-to-cuba-defying-trumps-tariff-threats-15846

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🇲🇽 🇨🇺 🇺🇸 2 Mexican Navy ships laden with humanitarian aid dock in Cuba as US blockade sparks energy crisis

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that as soon as the ships return, “we will send more support of different kinds.” Her administration noted that it still plans to send 1,500 tons of beans and powdered milk.

Sheinbaum has previously said the humanitarian aid would be sent while diplomatic maneuvering to resume oil supplies is underway. She says Mexico has told the United States it seeks to promote peaceful dialogue and ensure Cuba “can receive oil and its derivatives for its daily operations.”

Cuba has also reduced bank hours and suspended cultural events, while fuel distribution companies have said that sales only will be made in dollars and limited to 20 liters (5.28 gallons) per user.

In addition to severe blackouts, Cuban officials say that U.S. sanctions, which increased under Trump’s second term, cost the country more than $7.5 billion between March 2024 and February 2025.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-cuba-humanitarian-aid-havana-us-sanctions-52c44db94c9423511d67366662e78ac4

🛢 🇺🇸 🇨🇺 American officials are considering sending fuel to the island of Cuba to stave off a humanitarian crisis

Marco Rubio "could easily end up as the public face of an induced humanitarian crisis, along with another wave of Cuban 'boat people' crossing the 140km (90 miles) of water to the coast of Florida."

Mr. Rubio is one of the most powerful members of Mr Trump’s cabinet. He serves as both secretary of state and acting national security adviser. The only other person to hold both roles simultaneously was Henry Kissinger. While he appeared to be sidelined by some of the Trump administration’s special envoys on big foreign-policy projects in the Middle East and Ukraine, the Caracas raid has put him back in the spotlight. He is one of the architects of the president’s so-called Donroe doctrine, which prescribes dominance of the western hemisphere for the United States. “For Marco Rubio there is no better moment,” says Ricardo Herrero of the Cuba Study Group, which advocates for change in Cuba through dialogue and reconciliation.

Peaceful change would be far from simple to pull off. Unlike Mr Herrero, many of the 2.5m Cuban-Americans are hardliners. That includes south Florida’s three Cuban-American members of Congress. They want the Trump administration to impose even harsher measures on the regime, including a ban on family remittances to Cuba and a halt on all flights to the island by airlines based in the United States.

The White House doesn’t seem willing to go that far. It hopes instead that the fuel shortage will force the Cuban government to the table. Cuban officials have been pushing back, saying that discussions so far are preliminary, and that while they are open to dialogue, they will not change their one-party communist system.

The parallels between Venezuela and Cuba are limited. The Cuban regime is ideological and homogenous, where the Venezuelan one under Mr Maduro was split into factions and purely self-interested. Cuba’s security forces are also “more indoctrinated” than Venezuela’s, says Chris Sabatini of Chatham House, a think-tank based in London. Venezuela has abundant mineral wealth of the kind that allures Mr Trump. Cuba has little.

Given that, Mr Rubio is probably wise to string Cuba along. “Cuba is no longer self-sustaining,” says Mr Herrero. “Its only lifeline is the United States.” That may soon be more than a metaphor. Several sources tell The Economist that the United States is considering sending small quantities of fuel to the island: gas for cooking and diesel to keep water infrastructure running. Mr Rubio would gain even greater sway over his parents’ homeland.

https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2026/02/12/cubas-fate-may-be-in-marco-rubios-hands

📎 The Economist

📢 🇺🇸 🌐 Marco Rubio: "The world is changing very fast right in front of us. The old world is gone ... We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it's going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be."

📎 State Department