Tag: cuba

US-Sanctioned Russian Military Transport Plane Touches Down At Cuban Airfield

In a development which sounds reminiscent of the most dangerous moments of the Cold War, a Russian military cargo plane has been observed landing in Cuba, just as Havana is in Washington’s regime change crosshairs.

The Ilyushin Il-76, operated by the government-linked airline Aviacon Zitotrans, is reportedly under US sanctions as it has a well-documented history of ferrying military gear to Latin America. It touched down late Sunday at a Cuban military airfield.

The same aircraft – registered RA-78765 – logged flights to Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba in October amid rising tensions between Washington and Caracas.

According to details in Fox News:

Flight-tracking records show the aircraft stopped in St. Petersburg and Sochi in Russia; Mauritania, Africa; and the Dominican Republic. Each landing would have required approval from host governments, offering a window into which countries are continuing to permit Russian military-linked aviation activity despite Western sanctions.

The large, long range aircraft can carry up to 50 tons of cargo or roughly 200 personnel.

The US Treasury first added the company to its sanctions list in January 2023. The statement said, “Aviacon Zitotrans has shipped military equipment such as rockets, warheads, and helicopter parts all over the world,. Aviacon Zitotrans has shipped defense materiel to Venezuela, Africa, and other locations.”

Whether this latest delivery involved weapons, equipment or infrastructure parts remains unclear. What is clear is that sanctioned Russian military logistics are once again operating in the Caribbean’s airspace.

However, from Havana’s viewpoint, it should be allowed to maintain alliances and routing business and transactions – even if on the military front, with a large power like Russia.

Days ago, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia vowed that there will be no repeat of the Venezuelan scenario in Cuba.

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Trump Announces Aggressive Action Against Longtime U.S. Adversary

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order titled “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Cuba,” which formally declared a national emergency with respect to Cuba.

The order invokes authorities under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the National Emergencies Act (NEA), describing the situation as an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and foreign policy

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that the situation with respect to Cuba constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and hereby declare a national emergency with respect to that threat,” the order reads.

To address this declared emergency, the order establishes a new tariff system rather than imposing direct sanctions on Cuba in this specific measure. It authorizes additional ad valorem duties on imports into the United States from any foreign country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides oil to Cuba.

“Under this system, an additional *ad valorem* duty may be imposed on imports of goods that are products of a foreign country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba,” the order continues

“(a) Beginning on the effective date of this order, an additional *ad valorem* rate of duty may be imposed on goods imported into the United States that are products of any other country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba, in accordance with subsections (b) and (c) of this section.”

No fixed tariff rates — such as a specific percentage — are outlined in the order itself, and no countries are immediately named for application.

Instead, the policy creates a flexible framework. The Secretaries of Commerce and State, along with other relevant officials, are directed to determine which countries qualify by monitoring oil provision to Cuba, issuing rules, guidance, and implementing the tariffs accordingly. The president retains authority to modify, adjust, or terminate the order if Cuba or the supplying nations take meaningful steps to mitigate the perceived threat or align with U.S. national security and foreign policy goals.

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Trump Threatens Cuba, Suggests Rubio Could Serve as the Country’s President

President Donald Trump asserted that Cuba was vulnerable after he kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He demanded that Havana make a deal with Washington or face additional aggression from the US.

“Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela,” the President wrote on Truth Social Sunday. “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump ordered an attack on Venezuela that killed over 100 people and captured Maduro. Some of those killed were Cuban soldiers who were serving as Maduro’s bodyguards.

“Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE! Most of those Cubans are DEAD from last week’s USA attack,” Trump wrote. “And Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years. Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Following the capture of Maduro, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened several other nations in our own hemisphere. “If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned,” Rubio said.

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Cuban Dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel Threatens America — Vows Cubans Will “Give Our Blood” and Make the U.S. “Pay a Very Heavy Price”

Cuban communist thug Miguel Díaz-Canel has issued a direct threat to the United States, vowing that his impoverished island regime will spill “our own blood” and force America to “pay a very high price” in defense of their fallen socialist comrade in Venezuela.

This comes just hours after President Donald Trump’s bold, decisive military action that finally rid the world of Venezuelan tyrant Nicolás Maduro, a move that has liberals in meltdown mode.

President Trump, true to his America First agenda, ordered a large-scale military strike in Venezuela early Saturday, resulting in the capture and removal of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Elite U.S. forces executed a flawless nighttime raid in Caracas, seizing Maduro and flying him out of the country to face long-overdue criminal charges for his crimes against humanity and his role in flooding our borders with drugs and chaos.

Cuba, a decaying communist police state propped up for years by stolen Venezuelan oil, is predictably howling about “imperial aggression.”

Havana’s ruling elite knows full well that Maduro’s fall spells doom for their own tyrannical grip on power.

After all, Cuban intelligence has been deeply embedded inside Venezuela’s security apparatus. Without Maduro’s handouts, Cuba’s house of cards is crumbling faster than Biden’s cognitive abilities.

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“I Think They’re in a Lot of Trouble” – Rubio Signals Cuba is Trump’s Next Target, Reveals that Cubans Controlled Venezuelan Intelligence and Guarded Maduro

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday suggested that Cuba may be targeted by the Trump Administration next, after Venezuelan tyrant Nicolas Maduro’s ouster on Saturday. 

Trump has suggested that Colombia and Mexico may face military action next. Trump said on Saturday morning, “Something’s gonna have to be done with Mexico,” when he was asked whether his bold action in Venezuela was a warning to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

During an appearance with NBC’s Kristen Welker, Rubio described the Cuban government as a “huge problem” and said, “they’re in a lot of trouble.”

“I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard,” Rubio told Welker. “But I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro. His entire like internal security force, his internal security apparatus, is entirely controlled by Cubans.”

He further explained that Maduro was guarded by the Cubans and his internal intelligence was all Cubans, which he said was “one of the untold stories.”

WATCH:

Welker: Is the Cuban government the Trump administration’s next target, Mr. Secretary, very quickly?

Rubio: Well, the Cuban government is a huge problem. Yeah, the Cuban government is a huge problem, first of all for the people of Cuba, but I don’t think people fully appreciate–

Welker: So is that a yes?

Rubio: I think they’re in a lot of trouble, yes. I’m not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard. But I don’t think it’s any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who, by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro. His entire like internal security force, his internal security apparatus, is entirely controlled by Cubans.

One of the untold stories here is how, in essence, you talk about colonization— because I think you said Delcy Rodriguez mentioned that— the ones who have sort of colonized, at least inside the regime, are Cubans. It was Cubans that guarded Maduro. He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards in terms of their internal intelligence, who spies on who inside to make sure there are no traitors, those are all Cubans.

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Trump issues thinly veiled warning to Mexico, slams Cuba, Colombia after US strikes Venezuela, arrests Maduro

President Trump issued a thinly-veiled warning to Mexico’s president Saturday while announcing the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro Saturday.

Trump, who also had strong words for the leaders of Colombia and Cuba,  said the attack on Venezuela wasn’t meant to be a warning for Mexico, but said “something’s going to have to be done” about the cartel-run country.

Trump has clashed with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo over trade tariffs, and blamed the US neighbor for allowing illegal immigration and narcotics to flow across the southern border.

“We’re very friendly with her, she’s a good woman,” Trump told Fox & Friends Saturday. “But the cartels are running Mexico — she’s not running Mexico.”

Sheinbaum said Mexico “strongly condemns and rejects” US military action in Venezuela and urged the US to end “all acts of aggression against the Venezuelan government and people,” in a statement released Saturday.

Trump also doubled down on his warning to Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

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Trump hints at his next target for a military operation after stunning capture of Maduro

Communist-run Cuba may be the next country to have an American-made regime change, President Donald Trump floated at a press conference addressing the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

‘I think Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,’ Trump said when asked if the operation in Venezuela contained a message to the island nation. 

‘That system has not been a very good one for Cuba,’ the president continued. ‘The people there have suffered for many, many years.’

After Joe Biden removed Cuba from the list of state sponsors of terrorism last year, Trump quickly reinstated the designation within his first days in office and reapplied economic sanctions. 

The U.S.-Cuba relationship remains strained as the island nation is under a strict embargo, preventing goods from reaching the socialist state.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is the son of Cuban refugees who fled during the nation’s communist revolution, doubled down, warning that the nation’s leadership should be worried. 

‘Suffice it to say, you know, Cuba is a disaster,’ Rubio said at the press conference. ‘It’s run by incompetent, senile men.’ 

‘If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I’d be concerned, at least a little bit,’ the secretary of state added. 

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Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Government Allocates 2.3 Million Euros to Finance the «Digital Transformation» of the Cuban Regime

The Government of Spain, led by the socialist Pedro Sánchez, has approved an allocation of 2.3 million euros to finance the so-called «digital transformation» of public administration in Cuba.

This initiative is part of the «Cuba Digital» project, a program funded by the European Union with a total of 3 million euros, managed through the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIAPP), an entity dependent on the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The stated objective is to digitize governmental procedures, improve administrative efficiency, and promote economic modernization on the Caribbean island.

However, it is clear that the Cuban communist regime argue that this investment does not benefit the people, but rather strengthens the repressive capabilities of Miguel Díaz-Canel’s government.

According to reports, the funds are allocated to update computer systems that include census tools, population control, and digital surveillance, key elements for maintaining authoritarian control over the citizenry.

In a context where Cuba faces serious problems of connectivity and internet access for its inhabitants—with frequent outages and state censorship—this European «aid» seems to prioritize state infrastructure over the real needs of the population, which suffers economic shortages and limitations on freedom of expression.

The decision is framed within a historical relationship between the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the Cuban regime, which has included debt condonations and bilateral cooperations.

Recently, Spain activated a debt conversion program for up to 375 million euros, intended for «sustainable development» projects in Cuba, although critics see it as a financial lifeline for Castroism amid its economic crisis.

We had previously reported it in Gateway Hispanic, highlighting how Sánchez ignores national priorities while supporting the Cuban regime.

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Death In the Street: Aside From the Obvious, There’s a Big Problem In Cuba

Last week, a video of a Cuban man’s final moments went viral on X. The man, whom many guessed to be in thirties, was skin and bones and wearing a medical mask, and he’d told those nearby that he felt unwell before sitting down on a bench outside on a public sidewalk. 

While he was sitting there, he simply slumped over and died. According to witnesses, his corpse remained there for many long hours under the Havana sun. Some tried to close his eyes, providing a little dignity. Others asked for a sheet to cover him. On one version of the video, you can hear someone say, “He died there sitting… he died of hunger, from the virus and the diseases.”  (Warning: You may find the video below disturbing.)  

Last I checked, no one knows what his cause of death was, but you probably just guess from any of the number of issues currently plaguing the country and get lucky. Cuba is currently a perfect storm for a random death. 

Malnutrition. Hunger from food shortages. Many only eat by digging through the trash of others. Poverty, inflation, and repression are at their worst levels in decades, and people are stressed. An estimated 89% of them live in extreme poverty. The country that once had a stellar medical system is now filled with overwhelmed hospitals, medical supply shortages, and dilapidated facilities, while the regime exports its medical providers to other countries under its slave-like forced labor program. Garbage remains piled in the streets for weeks and months at a time, creating sanitation hazards, and blackouts are now the norm, not the exception, sometimes lasting most of the day, even in Havana. Many lack clean water.  

As if that wasn’t enough, disease is running rampant. That’s why the man was wearing a mask. What the regime — or much of the media — won’t tell you is that Cuba is currently facing at least three simultaneous epidemics right now — dengue, chikungunya, and oropouche — and while it’s impossible to access real numbers, a third or more of the entire island’s population has gotten sick. 

Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness that can cause muscle and joint pain, rash, headache, vomiting, swollen glands, and, in severe cases, blood vessel damage that leads to shock, internal bleeding, and organ failure. Severe cases are typically fatal. Chikungunya is also virus spread through mosquito bites. The symptoms are similar to dengue, and while it’s rarely fatal, it can cause debilitating pain that lasts for a few days up to a few months. Oropouche is typically spread through midges, though mosquitos can spread it too, and it causes fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and joint pain that lasts for up to a week. 

Cases of all three diseases have popped up all year and worsened in July, but they surged in September. By October, they reached “combined epidemiological crisis” levels. Flooding from Hurricane Melissa combined with the poor sanitation conditions in the country contributed to the surge. There’s not enough fuel to run the mosquito fumigation trucks. Infrastructure is in such bad shape that leaking pipes lead to stagnant water that allow for increased mosquito breeding, and there is a lack of available screens for windows and doors, but the increasing number of blackouts make it difficult to keep them closed.    

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Mexico finances the Cuban regime while Pemex sinks into debt

Between May and August of 2025, Mexico sent more than 3 billion dollars in subsidized fuels to Cuba through the state subsidiary Gasolinas Bienestar, a figure that triples the shipments recorded during the last two years of the previous administration.

This has raised serious questions about transparency, public spending priorities, and possible diplomatic risks, as some of the shipments may have been carried out using a vessel sanctioned by the United States.

Quantity, frequency, and routesIn those four months, 58 shipments of hydrocarbons – including gasoline, diesel, and crude oil – were documented leaving Mexican ports for the Caribbean island.Most of those ships departed from Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, with only three leaving from Tampico, Tamaulipas.

The shipments are carried out by Gasolinas Bienestar, a Pemex subsidiary created in 2022 with the declared mission of supplying Cuba with subsidized fuel.

Use of a sanctioned vessel

One of the vessels identified on these routes was the Sandino, included in 2019 by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on its blacklist for participating in operations linked to the shipment of Venezuelan oil to Cuba.

In August, the Sandino sailed from the Pemex terminal in Laguna de Pajaritos, Veracruz, and arrived seven days later at the “Camilo Cienfuegos” refinery in Cuba.

Financial impact and budget comparison

The more than 3 billion dollars equate to about 60 billion Mexican pesos, approximately the same as the projected budget for the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) in 2026.

Gasolinas Bienestar has already reported losses and debt in its first year of operation, attributed to the “gifted” fuel to Cuba.

This increase in shipments occurs while Pemex faces financial and debt challenges, raising concerns about the sustainability of these subsidies.

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