WASHINGTON — The United States signaled on Monday that it had begun to ease what, in practice, turned into an oil blockade of Cuba — a change of tack after President Donald Trump spent weeks threatening to “take over” the island and saying he would punish countries that sent fuel there.
Speaking to journalists, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that the US will evaluate oil shipments to Cuba “on a case-by-case basis”. She was answering questions about why the U.S. Coast Guard allowed a Russian tanker loaded with crude oil to reach the island, despite having barred other countries from doing the same.
“The decision will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis, for humanitarian or other reasons, but there has been no formal change to our sanctions policy,” Leavitt said.
Since January, the Trump administration had been blocking energy shipments to Cuba as part of a strategy to force the communist government to concede. In a social media post that month, Trump wrote: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA — ZERO!”
But when it came to a tanker from Russia, Trump — who has long shown admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin — made an exception. For Moscow, the decision to let the ship pass was yet another sign that Russia still has some leverage over Washington.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the fuel shipment had previously been discussed with the United States and that Russia had a duty to support “friends” in Cuba.
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The US release of the ship came just days after Trump eased oil sanctions against Russia and Iran, in an attempt to contain soaring energy prices caused by the war with Iran.
Still, Russia continued to challenge Trump’s global ambitions. In Ukraine, Moscow ignored American pressure for a ceasefire despite more than a year of negotiations. And in the Middle East, Russia provided intelligence that indicated the location of U.S. military personnel, according to U.S. officials.
On Sunday night, aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he had no problem with Russia sending oil to Cuba, classifying the gesture as humanitarian aid.
The ban on the import of foreign oil plunged Cuba into a deep crisis, with daily blackouts, food shortages, canceled classes and difficulties even in maintaining basic health services. The country depended mainly on oil from Venezuela and Mexico, but shipments were halted in January after US forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in an overnight operation.
“We don’t mind someone sending a shipload, because they have to — they have to survive. That wouldn’t bother me,” Trump said Sunday. “If a country wants to send some oil to Cuba now, I have no problem with that. Whether it’s Russia or not.”
Still, the government stopped short of saying clearly on Monday that it approved aid from countries other than Russia. The previous week, Trump had discussed sending oil to Cuba with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, according to three officials interviewed on condition of anonymity.
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According to these sources, Trump told Sheinbaum that he did not want Mexico to resume oil shipments to Cuba for now. This Monday, Sheinbaum stated that his government is still studying the possibility of returning to supplying oil to the island.
Leavitt, for his part, avoided directly answering whether the White House would be comfortable with Mexico sending oil to Cuba after freeing the Russian ship. She stated that the government maintains “the right to seize vessels, if legally applicable, that are en route to Cuba and violate United States sanctions policy.”
“But, of course, the United States and Cuba also reserve the right to waive these seizures on a case-by-case basis,” he added.
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This back and forth indicated that the Trump administration should continue trying to economically suffocate the Cuban government by hindering fuel deliveries, even allowing some shipments to pass through.
“The issue is controlling all the levers,” said Ricardo Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, an independent research and advocacy group in Washington. “The United States decides what comes in, what goes out, when and at what price.”
Dmitry Rozental, director of the Russian-state-linked Institute of Latin American Studies in Moscow, said in an interview that the decision to allow the delivery of Russian oil to Cuba, but not Mexico, shows Russia’s greater ability to resist pressure from Trump.
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“It is much more difficult for the United States to put economic pressure on Russia than to put pressure on the Sheinbaum government,” Rozental said.
Still, the broader picture for Russia in Latin America is not very encouraging. In January, Moscow lost its closest ally in the region when American forces captured Maduro.
This move, coupled with the de facto blockade, limited Russia’s ability to support Cuba’s communist government — a partnership that has allowed Moscow to project power alongside American shores since the height of the Cold War.
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In an apparent reference to the Russian tanker approaching Cuba, the country’s deputy foreign minister, Josefina Vidal — who had previously led negotiations with the Obama administration — told Al Jazeera: “Cuba is not alone. We have received support from other countries to facilitate and help our plans to seek solutions.”
She confirmed that representatives from Cuba and the US have already met once within a new round of talks. “We are ready to talk about everything with the United States,” he said. “We are ready to negotiate with the United States, put many issues on the table to discuss with them. With a single exception, and that exception is Cuba’s independence.”
Trump even said that he would have the “honor of taking Cuba” and, in negotiations with Cuban authorities, his government signaled that the island’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, should resign.
Experts say the oil on board the Russian ship would only guarantee Cuba a few weeks of fuel at most.
“We are involved in a major military operation in Iran and we need to have a clear plan for what happens next in Cuba,” said Carlos Díaz-Rosillo, former director of public policy and interagency coordination at the White House in Trump’s first term. Given the war in Iran, “postponing this issue for three or four weeks may not necessarily be a bad thing,” he said.
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