End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba and Threats of Military Intervention NOW!

By Kamran Nayeri, May 30, 2026

In recent days, the U.S. government has been making threats of military attack against Cuba. Two weeks ago, the Justice Department filed an indictment against Raul Castro, the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, and five others in the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Florida. The main charge in this indictment is the decision to shoot down three airplanes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue on February 23, 1996. This group had been flying over Cuba to drop leaflets encouraging Cubans to revolt against the government.

Cubans' demand for U.S. immigration has always outstripped the supply of immigrant visas granted by the U.S. embassy. As a result, one of the problems the Cuban government has faced has been illegal immigration through the Florida Strait by often self-made boats, putting them in danger of dehydration and drowning in treacherous waters.

Brothers for the Rescue was formed in May 1991 by a group of Cuban pilots who immigrated to the United States. Its initial goal was to help Cubans who were sailing from Cuba to Florida. However, its founder, Jose Basulto, had a history of working for the CIA. This group increasingly worked to help overthrow the Cuban government, including by propaganda through dropping leaflets in Cuba (Robles, May 20, 2026).  Prior to the targeting of the "Brothers for the Rescue" planes, the Cuban government had repeatedly complained to the US government about the activities of this group based in Florida, which was made up of U.S. nationals or legal residents. Several negotiation meetings were held between the diplomats of the two countries, but the U.S. government took no action to stop these illegal flights that contributed to a counter-revolution in Cuba.

Trump's anti-Cuba policies escalated after his success in the imperialist campaign against the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, which led to the kidnapping of him and his wife, Celia Flores, on January 3 of this year, and replacing him with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. Rodriguez and the leadership of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela abandoned the socialist language used by the Maduro government, replacing senior officials, mainly from the military, in 13 of the 32 ministries.

From the first day after Maduro's abduction, Trump declared his main goal of controlling Venezuela's resources and oil industry.  With 303 billion barrels of oil estimated in 2023, Venezuela has the largest known oil reserves in the world. Oil was discovered in Venezuela in the late 19th century, but its extraction began in 1922 by American and European companies. In 1976, Venezuela nationalized the oil industry.

On January 29, Rodríguez, with the cooperation of parliament, where the United Socialist Party holds a majority, enacted a law to privatize oil production and sales.  At the same time, the United States lifted sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry and issued licenses to American oil companies to enter the Venezuelan oil industry. According to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who visited Venezuela in February, Venezuela's oil sales had reached $1 billion after Maduro's abduction, and another $5 billion is expected in the coming months.

U.S. action against Cuba after Maduro's abductionThe day after Maduro was kidnapped from Venezuela, Trump turned his attention to Cuba as a “trouble spot” and threatened it to "make a deal" with him before it was too late. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded by saying that those who turn everything, even human lives, into business, lack the moral credibility to criticize Cuba. 

By declaring a state of emergency, Trump used his executive power to warn that any country that sells or gives oil to Cuba will be subject to tariffs (Robles, January 30, 2026).  On February 27, the day before the start of the war against Iran, Trump said in his speech that he would take Cuba in a “friendly way."

The crisis caused by the ban on oil exports to Cuba

The blocking of oil imports to Cuba quickly turned into a full-blown crisis. The New York  Times compared it to the blockade of Cuba during the 1962 Missile Crisis.

According to the UN Human Rights Office, the oil blockade of Cuba has caused severe fuel shortages, threatened the country's food supply and water system, and affected hospitals. According to the UN World Food Program, along with Hurricane Melissa, fuel shortages have hurt crops in agriculture. The Cuban government has been forced to close down schools, universities and some transportation services. Due to the lack of fuel for vehicles, garbage has accumulated in Havana neighborhoods, posing a risk of disease spread. Electricity is rationed in all cities, and in some cases there is only two to four hours of electricity per day.

On March 13, 2026, Dias Canel announced that Cuba was in negotiations with the United States (Duran, March 13, 2026). Of course, the people of Cuba and the rest of the world knew nothing about these negotiations. At the end of March, reports emerged about these secret negotiations, suggesting that Trump's goal was to replace Díaz-Canel (Cotto, March 24, 2026). Canel was elected president on April 19, 2018, at the suggestion of Raúl Castro, and by his proposal at the party Congress on April 16, 2021, he was elected First Secretary of the Communist Party.  Before him, Raúl Castro held both positions.

On April 9, Canel said he would not resign in a rally.

Before formal negotiations between the two countries began, Trump's representatives secretly met with Raúl Castro's grandson, Rodrigo Castro. During these talks, Trump apparently called for the release of "political prisoners."

In  an interview on April 23, Cuba's ambassador to the United Nations, Ernesto Sobron Guzmán, said Cuba's internal affairs, including those in detention, would not be negotiated with the United States.

On April 28, Republican senators holding a majority blocked a bill introduced by Democratic senators to end oil blockade of Cuba.

While negotiating, Trump threatened Cuba with military intervention. At the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered $ 100 million in “humanitarian aid” to the Cuban people, along with two years of free Starlink service!

In the past, the same kind of offers have been made to Cuba by the U.S. government. On the one hand, they have tried to harm the Cuban economy and people's daily lives with sanctions and a blockade, and on the other hand, they have offered "humanitarian aid" on the condition that they directly distribute it to “the Cuban people,” bypassing the Cuban government!  Of course, the Cuban government has never accepted such "aid."

On May 14, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba to deliver a "message" to the Cuban government while U.S. spy planes reportedly increased their flights around Cuba.  According  to "anonymous" CIA officials quoted in the US press, the Trump administration will only "seriously engage in dialogue" if Havana makes "fundamental changes."

The United States has increased the possibility of military action. On May 17, Axios published a report claiming that  Cuba had received about 300 military drones from Iran and Russia  and intends to  use them to attack "the U.S. base at Guantanamo, U.S. military ships, and possibly Key West, Florida."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez responded, "Without any legitimate excuse, the U.S.  government is building a fabricated dossier day in  and day out to justify its brutal economic war against the Cuban people and ultimately military aggression." He added, "Certain media outlets write in their favor and promote slanders."

The Cuban government issued a statement after meeting with Ratcliffe, saying Cuba "does not pose a threat to the national security of the United States, and there is no valid reason to put it on the list of countries that allegedly support terrorism."

The Cuban government reiterated that Cuba "does not host, support or finance terrorist or extremist organizations, and does  not allow any foreign military or intelligence bases to exist on its territory" and that it "has never supported and  will not allow any hostile action against the United States.”

The need for solidarity with Cuba

As I have emphasized earlier,

“Today's crisis-ridden Cuba has no resemblance to a society in transition to socialism; rather, Cuba seems more like a peripheral country under economic sanctions and threats from imperialism. Of course, working people must oppose these imperialist actions and threats. However, the one-party system dominated by Stalinist ideology has made it impossible for any form of socialist democracy to develop and for a much-needed democratic public discussion in Cuba on how to get out of the crisis. Instead, the Communist Party (PCC) leadership has for six decades tried to avert the systemic crisis rooted in the lack of socialist motivation of the working people by using administrative measures and market incentives (Nayeri, 2024).”

Still, Trump administration's filing of a case against Raul Castro is an attempt to create a political atmosphere for the purpose of toppling the Cuban government. The aim of this invasion is to crush all the achievements of the Cuban national democratic revolution of 1959, which ended half a century of U.S. imperialist domination of the country, and paved the way for a better society for all Cubans, especially workers, peasants, women and blacks, by adopting a measure of of social justice. 

U.S. Hands off Cuba!

References:

Coto, Danicia. Associated Press. “As US pressure grows for leadership change in Cuba, a Castro could be the next president.” March 24, 2026.

Duran, Milexy, Danica Coto, Matthew Lee, and Aamer Mahani. “Cuban President Confirms US Talks as Island’s Energy and Economic Crises Intensify.” Associated Press. March 13, 2026.

Kelley, Laura. “Trump Floats ‘Friendly Takeover’ of Cuba.” The Hill, February 27, 2026.

Nayeri, Kamran. “The Cuban Revolution and Other Socialist Revolutions of the Twentieth Century: A Reassessment.” Our Place in the World: A Journal of Ecosocialism. October 16, 2024.

Robles, Frances. “Trump Moves to Cut Off All Oil to Cuba as U.S. Takes Aim at Its Government.” The New York Times, January 30, 2026.