Tag: cuba

South Florida residents react to Trump administration’s decision to sell Venezuelan oil to Cuban private businesses

People across South Florida are reacting to a major shift in U.S. policy toward Cuba, following the federal government’s announcement that it will allow fuel imports for the island’s private sector.

The Trump administration has given the green light for Venezuelan oil to be sold to Cuba’s private businesses, not the Cuban government. Supporters say the policy could help ease severe shortages that have crippled daily life on the island, while critics fear the Cuban government could still benefit indirectly.

Some residents say, in theory, the plan could offer relief to Cuba’s struggling economy. Others question whether the Cuban government can truly be kept out of the process.

“This really tells me that the Trump administration, particularly the president, is more interested in business than he is in regime change,” said Andy S. Gomez, a retired dean of international studies at the University of Miami.

Others believe the move could help everyday Cubans who have been hit hardest by the country’s worsening crisis.

“If he doesn’t do it, I don’t know that anyone else will,” said Armando Parada.

Still, many remain unconvinced.

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Trump: “Maybe We’ll Have A Friendly Takeover Of Cuba”

President Trump told reporters on Friday afternoon that the U.S. could pursue a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, a comment from the president that comes as his administration moves to secure the Western Hemisphere and intensifies pressure on the communist regime in Havana through a crude-oil blockade.

“The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money, no anything right now, but they’re talking with us, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.

Trump repeated, “We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

He continued, “After many, many years, we have had a lot of years of dealing with Cuba. I’ve been hearing about Cuba since I was a little boy. But they’re in big trouble. And something very well – and something positive could happen.”

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Leftists Unleash Fury on Pop Star Camila Cabello for Speaking Out Against Communist Atrocities in Cuba

Cuban American pop sensation Camila Cabello is being met with vicious attacks from leftists for using her social media to shine a light on the devastating humanitarian crisis gripping Cuba under its long-standing communist regime.

Cabello, who was born in Havana and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was seven, shared a series of photos from her childhood, including images of her in the communist “young pioneer” uniform, a symbol of the regime’s indoctrination efforts.

The singer also posted images of collapsed buildings and desperate Cubans rummaging through dumpsters for food.

In her caption, Cabello didn’t mince words about the “67 years of a failing dictatorship and an oppressive regime.”

“The Cuban people are suffering in an echo chamber where no one can hear them because to speak is to risk your life,” she wrote.

Cabello continued, “Many people are starving, looking for food in trash heaps, and the only way to survive is having relatives ship you boxes of medicine because not even the hospitals have medicine. The power is gone for so long that food spoils and water becomes scarce… The Cuban people have lived without dignity and without hope for too long. It’s no wonder so many Cubans have thrown themselves into shark-infested waters, making boats out of tires and sticks and risking their lives for freedom.”

The star encouraged her followers to support Caritas Cuba, a humanitarian organization providing aid to those in need.

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Cuba Says It Killed Four People Who Opened Fire From a US-Registered Speed Boat

The Cuban government said on Wednesday that its coast guard killed four people who opened fire from a US-registered speedboat that entered Cuba’s territorial waters, an incident that comes amid a ramped-up US oil embargo on the country that’s meant to bring about regime change.

The Cuban Interior Ministry said in a statement that the vessel approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel north of Corralillo, a town in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara. As the Cuban coast guard vessel approached, the Interior Ministry said the people on the foreign boat opened fire, injuring the commander of the Cuban boat.

“As a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, on the foreign side, four aggressors were killed, and six were injured, who were evacuated and received medical assistance,” the statement said.

The ministry said the boat was registered in Florida, just 90 miles from Cuba. So far, there’s been no comment from the US about the incident.

The Trump administration recently cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and pressured Mexico to end its oil exports, causing severe fuel shortages in the country. Last week, President Trump boasted of the impact his embargo is having on Cuba.

“Cuba is right now a failed nation, and they don’t even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off, clogging up their runway,” he said, adding that he wanted a “deal” with Cuba, but in the meantime, “there’s an embargo. There’s no oil, there’s no money, there’s no anything.”

It’s unclear what sort of “deal” President Trump wants with Cuba, and whether talks between Washington and Havana are underway. Drop Site News recently reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been blocking negotiations with Cuba while telling President Trump they were ongoing, while Axios reported that Rubio has held some talks with the grandson of Raul Castro.

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US Actions Toward Cuba Are Criminal

A recent Wall Street Journal article recently outlined yet the latest attempts by the US government to bring down Cuba’s socialist government, a process that has been going on without much success for the past 65 years. Once upon a time, the US policy toward Cuba was part of the greater Cold War and it was front-and-center in the national news cycle. (Many of us still remember the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, wondering if we were about to face an all-out nuclear war).

When Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolutionaries took over Cuba’s government in early 1959, ousting the US-backed president Fulgencio Batista, many in this country cheered. Batista, after all, was seen as a corrupt dictator and Castro was popular with many Americans who had high hopes that he would do a better job of governing Cuba. After Castro, however, seized and nationalized US businesses, declared Cuba to be communist and turned toward the Soviet Union for his support, the US government since then has sought to overthrow him.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s latest efforts are making life almost unbearable for Cubans, who already are among the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere. (Before Castro’s revolution, Cuba was one of the wealthiest nations in the Americas). The WSJ reports:

Daily life in Cuba is grinding to a halt under a US campaign to block the island’s oil imports, drawing international criticism that the Trump administration is pushing the island toward a humanitarian crisis with no clear endgame.

The Caribbean island’s Communist authorities are rationing dwindling fuel supplies, curtailing public transportation and furloughing workers. Children are being sent home from school early, people can barely afford basic food like milk and chicken, and long lines have sprung up at gas stations.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar steps up to defend Cuba’s communist military dictatorship

rdinarily, I don’t care too much what leftist pinheads in the celebrity and political communities say.

But this defense of Cuba, from none other than wokester Rep. Ilhan Omar of Fraudisota seemed a little more disgusting than most.

Every part of this statement is a despicable lie. 

The Castroite communist island hellhole is very much a national security threat given its role in sheltering terrorists — from FARC to Hezb’allah, no terrorist is too terrible for them — to pioneering the U.S.-South America drug trade. Anybody ask Pablo Escobar how he managed to ship cocaine into the U.S. during the Miami Vice era in his then-novel drug submarines? Castro was the one who moved it along. Cuba has conducted espionage on an industrial scale in the U.S. with every snippet of information dishonestly and illicitly obtained, some at the highest levels of the national security establishment, going to America’s enemies in China, Russia, and Iran. Just ask Ana Montes.

Cuba’s communist regime has also terrorized virtually every nation of Latin America and many even in Africa with its threats of insurgency and leftwing unrest, not to mention, guerrilla activity. It has been found at the center of every insurgency of the 20th century. Just ask Chile or El Salvador or Nicaragua what that was like, not to mention, Venezuela both in the 1960s and later on. Colombia, in fact, was Castro’s first target — in 1948. When Americans were held as POWs in Hanoi, Cuban Castroites were their torturers. Their latest scheme has been ‘medical mercenaries’ who are, as the late great Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner are ‘slaves of the white coat’ working on starvation wages as the regime collects the profits, some of them serving as spies. Cuba’s regime has been at the heart of every threat and thug action for nearly a century and still is. 

As for America, their main adversary, they’ve trained guerrilla groups through their Venceremos Brigade, of which Karen Bass remains a proud member, in subversion — the garbage going on with antifa around the country, from Portland to Minneapolis — most certainly has Cuban roots. In the early 1960s, they tried to blow up the New York City subways under big retailers such as Bloomingdales and Macy’s on Black Friday, all to ensure maximum civilian casualties before J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI thwarted their evil plot. In the 1980s, they pioneered ‘migrant bombs’ emptying thir prisons and insane asylums to set sail for America, all in a bid to weaken America and strengthen their own grip on power as potential troublemakers were sent to ‘the enemy.’ They set the tone for leftist extremism the world over. They are the godfather of the left.

But this is just to address the national security threat of Cuba, there is more, much more, in Omar’s hideous statement.

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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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