Cuba In Crisis
Late February is traditionally the time when thousands of cigar lovers, cigar retailers, importers and distributors fly to Cuba for the annual Habanos Festival, celebrating Cuba and its renowned cigars. Not this year—at least, not now. A little more than one week before it was scheduled to begin, the organizers postponed the event, and as we went to press a new date had yet to be announced.
The news came as little surprise to those who follow Cuba as the country faces its most dire crisis in decades, perhaps its toughest test ever. Cuba is in the midst of a severe and protracted energy shortage, one that made headlines starting in October 2024 after most of the nation was plunged into darkness when a critical power plant failed, taking down the country’s entire electrical grid. Cuba was blacked out for days. Today, blackouts are frequent, a side effect of the country’s aged and neglected energy infrastructure.
Now, the problems are getting worse.
On January 3, American forces raided Venezuela and seized President Nicolás Maduro, taking him into custody and taking control of the nation’s oil supply. This cut off Cuba from its largest beneficiary and its primary supplier of petroleum. On January 29, President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting Cuba’s leaders, proclaiming that the “policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba directly threaten the safety, national security and foreign policy of the United States.” The president threatened any nation that shipped oil to Cuba with punitive tariffs, further choking off Cuba from imported oil.
In late February, the U.S. changed course somewhat, announcing it would allow oil shipments to Cuba, but only via the private sector, not the government. How that would work, and how it could help, was unclear as this issue went to press.
Trump wrote that the United States hoped to “encourage peaceful change in Cuba and to promote democracy, the principle of free expression and press, the rule of law and respect for human rights throughout the world.”
For “relations between the U.S. and Cuba to progress,” wrote Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, “they must be based on international law rather than hostility, threats and economic coercion.”
Talks are said to be occurring between the countries, but not between the presidential leaders.
There are additional problems in Cuba. Uncollected garbage. Mosquito-borne illnesses that are infecting and, in some cases, killing people. An exodus of working-age people, cutting Cuba’s population from 11 million to perhaps as little as 10 or nine, depending upon the source.
Cuba holds a spot in each of our hearts. We have both traveled there extensively and we love the island and its citizens. No matter your politics, all of us should agree the people of Cuba deserve a better fate than the one they currently endure. Imagine living in a world where the power goes out regularly, where you can’t keep a stock of food to feed your family, can’t find the essential supplies to improve your life. A world where you are not truly free.
We do not know how this story ends, but it’s our sincerest hope that the lives of the Cuban people improve, and improve soon. It’s what they deserve.
