US President Donald Trump signalled he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to Cuba on Sunday, saying he had “no problem” with any country sending in crude as a Russian tanker neared a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment.
A sanctioned Russian vessel, part of the country’s “shadow fleet”, was just off the coast of eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to ship tracking data, and was expected to reach port on Monday, a lifeline for the country’s economy that has nearly ground to a halt under a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington.
The US cut off Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba after toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, and Trump threatened to slap punishing tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba. Mexico, the largest supplier to Cuba along with Venezuela, then halted its shipments.
As a result, Cuba has not received an oil tanker in three months, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, exacerbating an energy crisis that has led to strict rationing of petrol and a series of blackouts across the country of 10 million people. Cuban health officials say the crisis has increased the mortality risk for Cuban cancer patients, especially children.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump expressed sympathy for the Cuban people’s need for energy and said he was unconcerned with any help it might provide the communist government in Havana because he predicted it would soon fall on its own.
“If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or not,” Trump said.
