Cuba It is an island and promises and threats always came from the sea. The sea surrounds and encloses it. Since the end of January, the “energy fence” of the United States has worsened the economic suffocation to intolerable limits. Against the backdrop of blackouts, in the midst of energy interruptions, repressive attempts and even a medium intensity earthquake in the eastern regionwhile Donald Trump boasts of being able to “conquer” the country if bilateral negotiations do not prosper, an external relief network has begun to be activated with the Cubans that should arrive in the port of Havana in the coming days.
On the one hand, Russia, historical ally of Castroism and his heirs, has sent two ships with supplies of gas and oil. On the other, the arrival of a solidarity convoy with 20 tons of supplies sent by the Progressive International. The ship, which must approach the coast on Saturday, will take on board Pablo Iglesiasformer vice president of the Spanish Government and founder of Podemos; the former mayor of Barcelona There’s Colauthe activist Greta Thumberg, Jeremy Corbynformer leader of the British Labor Party; Clara Lopezformer Minister of Labor of Colombia, and Gerardo Pisarellospokesman for the Commons in Congress, among others.
Along with these actions that aim to have continuity, one of them the flotilla heading to Cuba which should leave in May from Barcelona, there is no shortage of inhabitants of the island who wonder about the impotence in the face of the situation of the progressive governments that are still standing in Latin America and that administer oil-producing countries: Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. “Lula da Silva and Gustavo Petro, two leaders who owe their political capital to the narrative of social transformation and regional sovereignty, They have opted for what we could call a kind of low-cost symbolism with statements of moral support, calls for dialogue, discursive presence in international forums,” says Josué Veloz Serrade in the publication La Tizza Cuba. “But while the words circulate, the structural conditions of suffocation — the blockade, the lists of countries sponsoring terrorism, the financial sanctions — remain intact.”
Last Monday, the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, decided to make a economic donation to Cuba “personally” In response to a call from his predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Mexican Government’s aid to the island, he said, is a matter of “fraternity.” Mexico has defended a historic autonomy against the United States on the Cuban issue. For decades, it was the only country in the region that did not join the rupture of relations resulting from the expulsion of Cuba from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962. This time, Trump has set a limit by imposing tariffs on countries that sell oil to the largest of the Antilles. The Government has, however, sent two ships with 1,200 tons of food.
The boats
In this context, preparations were being finalized for the humanitarian aid of the Progressive International that must leave Mexico in the next few hours. The group is made up of 120 representatives from 19 countries, 50 associations and groups, 13 political movements and unions, and four MEPs. It has the support of the Sumud Global Flotilla that headed to the Gaza Strip in 2025 to deliver humanitarian aid. The Brazilian climate activist Thiago Ávila reported that the ship will leave the port of Progreso, in the Mexican state of Yucatán, with food, medicine, hygiene products and solar panels. “The first delegations have already begun to arrive on a cargo plane with medicines,” he remarked.
Meanwhile, it has been noted that Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkinowned by the state shipping company Sovcomflot and targeted by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, sails loaded with 730,000 barrels of crude oil towards the Matanzas oil terminal. It should moor next Monday. It would be the first energy supply to arrive in Cuba in more than two months. A second ship, the Sea Horse, flying the Hong Kong flag, is also heading towards the Caribbean country with ones 200,000 barrels of Russian diesel.
In turn, the Heading to Cuba initiative plans to reach the island in May aboard an Open Armas sailboat and with solar panels destined for hospitals. The aid is organized by social groups, unions and Spanish politicians.
secret date
The movements take place in coincidence with rumors in Havana about a meeting at the highest level headed by nonagenarian Raúl Castro in the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Military personnel and leaders extremely trusted by Fidel Castro’s brother participated in that meeting on Tuesday. Among those who know what happens in power The presence of the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, could not be confirmed or deniedwhose head, recorded The New York Timeswould have been requested by Trump to guide the conversations. The North American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, denied the New York newspaper.
Guesswork is the order of the day on mobile phones. The distance between gossip and the truth is narrow in a country where the press misinforms. One of the versions has to do at this time with an attempt by Lis Cuesta, Díaz-Canel’s wife, to go visit his son in Spain. Everything can be plausible or nonsense for an overwhelmed society that shows increasing signs of impatience and desperation, to the point of having set fire to a Communist Party office. The arsonist gesture is unprecedented in the history of Castroism.
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