Cuba approaching a crisis state

Jan 21, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – Cuba is in dire straits, with the worse still to come. It has a choice: finalise a deal with the US, or manage the chaos that follows, when all oil supplies are curtailed.

In Venezuela, the US used allegations of drug trafficking and other crimes to oust Maduro, and install what looks like a captive government. There were the usual noises about corruption, how much that devastates Venezuelans, and how what is being done is for their benefit. It is an old song that is forever sung by despotic leaders the world over, who are bent on having their way. The welfare of the people is the big incentive that drove decisions is what is claimed. With the rare exception here and there, it is a posture that regularly collapses under the weight of scrutiny and questioning. The more the people are thought of, and actions are taken in their favor, the more it seems that they are forced to a long season of suffering.

With this as context, the issue that is engaging the attention of global watchers is what is the basis for squeezing Cuba, a struggling neighbor long held prisoner under the shadow of US might. Communism certainly has to be close to the top of the wrongdoing list. Aiding and supporting Maduro during his reign must be a consideration. Piloting the spread of terror and a ruthless ideology in weak countries, and partnering with dictators do not leave Cuba standing in the good graces of the US.

But these should never be enough, not even close, to subject the citizens of a whole country to a strangling oil cutoff and blockade. It seems that the bully from the schoolyard has moved from those small beginnings to the bully on the world stage. No one is standing up, all are running for cover, and calculating their next move, as they bide time. This is not a safe place for the world to be. Russian oil tankers may test the resolve of the US, and one miscalculation, one rash step, and relations can deteriorate, with no one in a position to know where the outcomes end up. Bigger misjudgments have been made, and from small movements, huge sparks have flared and caught afire.

Brazil is an oil exporter, and it has long chafed under the yoke of Uncle Sam’s heavy hand and overbearing ways. Will Brazil run to the rescue of Cuba? One as strong hemispheric presence ready to lend a sister country in distress, and otherwise as a means of taking a defiant stance against the sweep of US rampages. Neither Brazil nor Angola nor Algeria have responded to the developments that hang over Cuba’s head. It is grim, and it must be recalled that Cuba had once sent its sons to fight in Angola and Algeria, among other African nations, when they were in dire need of help. The roles are reversed today, and Cuba is staring straight into the barrel of a gun. Be quick to do a deal with the US, or the oil lifeline from Venezuela will be cutoff, without a moment’s hesitation.

When deals are forced down the throat of one country by another country, there is no way that that can be called free enterprise on the move. It is doubtful that people of principle can approve of such developments, where the citizens of an entire country are held hostage and threatened with unimaginable hardship if they don’t cave in. For that is what cutting off oil supplies to Cuba would mean, with the last resupply boat delivering its cargo since mid-December. To prepare to totally cutoff Cuba’s oil needs is going to create an economic and humanitarian crisis that will get worse the longer that the cutoff stays in effect.

Its options are limited, with one constant present. The complete surrender of Cuba to US pressure, and the accompanying loss of self-respect. We think that this is the tip of larger calculations and set visions. The world is being reordered according to US interests, while global restraining hands and voices stand uncommitted, powerless. How long this continues is unknown. However benignly viewed, the world is now on a dangerous course.

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