The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Cuba:
The U.S. Causes an Energy Shortage

Sep 30, 2019

This is translated from Combat Ouvrier (Workers’ Combat), the newspaper of the revolutionary workers’ group active in the French Caribbean islands Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Cuba has an oil crisis. The shortage is caused by strict U.S. sanctions against companies transporting oil from Venezuela, which is the source of oil for Cuba.

People in Cuba live the shortage every day. Gas stations are closed. Those remaining open in Havana have long lines with over an hour’s wait for gas. Electrical blackouts happen more and more often, because the lack of oil forces utilities to make less electricity.

The U.S. is punishing companies delivering Venezuelan petroleum to Cuba, in order to get Cuba to stop supporting the Maduro government in Venezuela. With this energy crisis, the U.S. government kills two birds with one stone. It weakens Maduro’s government, and it suffocates Cuba even more—as the U.S. has done for 60 long years.