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First modification: 02/12/2026 - 18:00
How much can the United States pressure and what options are left for Cuba to resist? That is the central theme in The Debate on France 24, at a time when the island faces new economic asphyxiation following the measures adopted by President Donald Trump to restrict the supply of foreign oil.
The US Administration is taking measures that directly affect the supply of oil to Cuba at a time of serious energy crisis on the Caribbean island.
After the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on January 3 by the United States and the subsequent strategy to intervene in Venezuelan crude oil, the interim Administration of Caracas stopped sending fuel to Havana, its main supplier.
In addition, Donald Trump signed an executive order that threatens tariffs on any country that continues to send crude oil to the island, prompting Mexico to suspend its shipments.
The fuel shortage has aggravated the blackouts that already affected the country and has impacted air transport, hitting tourism, one of the sources of income for the Cuban economy.
From Havana, we can see how this external pressure complicates daily life and economic activity on the island.
Read also “Everyone knows what is coming now”: Cubans prepare for a feared fall into the void
How much can the United States pressure and what options do Cuba have to resist? That is the focus of El Debate on France 24.
Our guests analyze the political, economic and human impact of Washington's recent measures and the possible paths that the island has to face the current energy crisis, now without the oil support of Venezuela and Mexico.
For Luis Zúñiga, former diplomat and member of the Cuban Resistance Assembly, Washington's actions accelerate the outcome of a model that he considers exhausted.
"The United States is accelerating the end of a failed State, of a system that has impoverished, destroyed and ruined the Cuban economy and society. Today it is an indebted country that lives off donations," says Luis Zúñiga, former diplomat and member of the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance.
Furthermore, he maintains that the electricity crisis is not a direct consequence of the recent decisions of the White House: "Before Trump's decision, Cuba had been living up to 18 hours a day without electricity; it is not a situation created by the United States."
For his part, Arturo López-Levy, professor at Georgia State University, rejects the argument that US pressure responds to a defense of Human Rights and freedoms on the island.
He also questions the approach, spread even by some Cuban representatives in the United States, that the dilemma is “relieving suffering in the short term or liberating Cuba forever.”
"How can you promote harassment against your own country from abroad? Threatening with hunger, is that advocating for human rights?" says Arturo López-Levy, professor at Georgia State University.
While the island faces blackouts and fuel shortages, the Cuban population continues to pay the highest cost, highlighting the urgency of solutions that protect those who live the crisis day by day.
They join us from Atlanta and Miami:
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