As 700 international solidarity citizens visited Cuba last weekend, Cuban-American Secretary of State Marco Rubio smirked at the humanitarian disaster his and Trump’s policies were wrecking on Cuba, as small island nation of 9 million people only 90 miles off the tip of Florida. Rubio had predicted the Cuban government would fall from the disastrous policies, particularly the blockade of fuel to the island.

But Rubio’s plan was partially upended on Sunday night, when President Trump decided to allow a Russian oil tanker carrying 100 tons of oil to deliver it to Cuba.

International Citizens Solidarity with Cuba, While Nations Turn Their Backs on Cuba

Last weekend, I was in Cuba for the second time in two months, joining 700 international solidarity citizens from 30 countries. Organized in less than six weeks by Progressive International, CODEPINK: Women For Peace, and many other groups, hundreds of persons outraged about the latest US punishment of the Cuban people saw very quickly and deeply the inhumane effects of the recent oil embargo as well as the cumulative effects of a 65-year-old US economic blockade of Cuba.

On my first trip this year, in late January 2026, the capital city of Havana, where we spent most of our time, was showing definite signs of the negative effects of the blockade, particularly of the fuel shortage.

Six weeks later in mid-March, the lack of fuel was starkly evident. Very few cars were on the streets. Lines for the few buses with fuel were very long.

Cubans were cooking with wood in the parks as electricity was sporadic.

Electrical blackouts of the entire country were frequent.

Hospital generators were almost out of fuel.

Cuba Operating on Fumes

Aiming directly at Mexico, Trump’s January 29, 2026 executive order threatened heavy tariffs on “any other country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba.” PEMEX, the Mexico state oil company, has been the primary supplier of oil to Cuba after the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January. Sadly, bending to Washington’s threat, with only two to three weeks left of oil in Cuba at the time of the executive order, the Mexican government suspended shipments of oil to keep the country running.

While rumors abounded of Russia sending an oil tanker to Cuba, no ship was in sight until Sunday.

In the meantime, Cuba is operating on fumes.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio Willing to Torpedo the Entire Country of Cuba

It is ironic that Cuban-American Rubio has US citizenship through the “birthright law” that he and the Trump administration are trying to eliminate. The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Rubio’s case for torpedoing the birthright law on April 1.

Rubio was born in the US of non-U.S. citizen parents who fled the Baptista regime before the Cuban revolution against Baptista. Finally, journalists delved into his background years after Rubio entered politics and he was forced to acknowledge his “birthright” citizenship something he had kept hidden.

It’s doubly ironic that Rubio who thinks he knows so much about Cuba has been to Cuba only once, for only one day visiting the American prison at the US naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba.

Rubio grew up in Miami in midst of the fervent anti-revolution rhetoric and actions. He quickly saw that his political future rested with being as anti-revolution as possible, despite the strides in health and education that were being made in Cuba.

U.S. Government, not the Cuban Government, Holding up Compensation of US Citizens and Corporations from 1959 Nationalization

In his many years in Florida state politics and then as a US senator, Rubio refused to acknowledge that it was the US government that stopped compensation of US individuals and corporations when the revolutionary government nationalized services for the people to take them from the hands of the private sector that was getting richer and richer off the backs of the poverty stricken and enslaved Cubans.

After the 1959 revolution, Cuba negotiated “lump sum” compensation packages with Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and France for individuals and corporations whose property had been nationalized.

The United States, however, refused to participate in the compensation plan........

© Common Dreams