Experts note that the Communist government survived the grim days after the Soviet Union's dissolution, and it would be premature to predict its collapse now. Despite the Trump administration's desire to weaken Cuba's government, the United States, for now, will not pressure Mexico to reduce or cut off shipments to Cuba to avoid worsening conditions there, according to an administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly. The Trump administration does not believe the Cuban government has much oil in storage, the official said, and is concerned that the government will use whatever oil it does have on hand to keep its intelligence and security apparatus going. The State Department recently announced it was sending $3 million in humanitarian aid through the Catholic Church to areas in Cuba affected in the fall by Hurricane Melissa. Asked whether the Trump administration was risking setting off a humanitarian crisis by cutting off Venezuelan oil shipments, Jeremy P. Lewin, an acting under secretary of state, said that those shipments never benefited Cuban people — an argument belied by those experiencing blackouts in Cuba.
Can Cuba survive without Venezuela’s oil?
#Cuba needs 100,000 barrels of oil a day to keep the lights on, experts say, and to keep its buses, trains and factories running.
But because of President Trump, it is not getting nearly enough. archive.ph/UbXVG #authoritarisnism #communism
