Pirate Flank: US operation against Venezuela intensifies fuel crisis in Cuba

The US decision to declare a blockade on sanctioned Venezuelan tankers is hitting the Cuban energy sector. The island nation, already suffering from a severe economic crisis and a shortage of important goods, may lose a quarter of the necessary oil. Most of the fuel comes to Cuba from Venezuela. Meanwhile, Washington has switched from attacking ships allegedly belonging to drug traffickers to seizing oil tankers. Donald Trump openly declares that the fuel will be confiscated. At the same time, the American leader calls on Nicolas Maduro to resign voluntarily and not to tempt fate.

Why Cuba is suffering from the conflict between Venezuela and the United States

A new round of escalation of the conflict between the United States and Venezuela was Washington's decision to declare a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers of the Bolivarian Republic. The United States has already captured two of them and is now pursuing the third in international waters. Commenting on the operations of his country's Navy and Coast Guard, Donald Trump openly stated: the United States will keep all the seized oil and decide for itself how to use it.

In this situation, besides the obvious damage to Venezuela, the consequences also threaten Caracas' close ideological and political partner, Cuba.

— Unfortunately, the attack on Venezuela is also an attack on Cuba and Nicaragua, which are heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil. For example, Havana receives, according to various estimates, up to 40% of oil from Venezuela, and at a significant "fraternal" discount. It will be quite difficult to replace this volume, not only because of higher prices from other market players, but above all because of the US sanctions policy against Cuba," Egor Lidovskaya, director General of the Hugo Chavez Latin American Center, explained to Izvestia.

Cuba's economy, affected by US sanctions, has been dependent on Venezuela since the late 1990s. Under an agreement with Hugo Chavez, Havana began exporting its sports instructors, doctors, and even, according to the Western press, intelligence agents to Caracas, who were supposedly supposed to fight those who wanted to strike at the Chavez regime. Venezuela's response was to send 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Now the volumes have noticeably decreased. In the period from January to November, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels of oil per day, which makes up for only a quarter of the total demand on the island. In addition to Venezuela, Mexico and Russia also supply oil to Cuba, and the island nation produces fuel on a very small scale on its own.

— One of the most important areas for Havana in this regard is Mexico, and this is why I associate the current meeting between Cuban President Miguel Diaz—Canel and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. In addition, Moscow is one of the big three oil suppliers to Cuba, which is able to increase supplies to Liberty Island," the expert said.

This week, Mexico confirmed the shipment of oil to Cuba. They did not specify the cost of the cargo and its volume, however, according to some information, two Mexican tankers contained a total of 80 thousand barrels of fuel.

In turn, Russia, as Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko reported in April, sent about 100 thousand tons of oil to Cuba in February 2025. In the case of Moscow, deliveries are more of a point-by-point nature rather than a continuous export process.

Foreign experts say that in a situation where Cuba will no longer be able to receive oil on favorable terms from Russia, Venezuela and Mexico, Havana will have to purchase it entirely on the international market, which will mean spending about $3 billion a year. This is a huge sum for a country that is experiencing a major economic crisis.

According to Ricardo Torres Perez, a Cuban economist from the American University in Washington, the island nation's economy has shrunk by 15% since 2018, with cumulative inflation exceeding 450%. Almost 90% of the population lives in extreme poverty, according to the Social Rights Observatory. 70% can afford a maximum of two meals a day. For most, the main problems are lack of food and constant power outages for 18 or more hours a day.

The United States continues to put pressure on Venezuela

The issue of the ongoing American threat against Venezuela became the topic of a meeting of the UN Security Council on December 23. Venezuela's permanent representative to the organization, Samuel Moncada, called the recent actions of the United States to seize oil tankers "state piracy," and also said that the pretext for combating drug trafficking, under which Washington launched its operation in the Caribbean, had ceased to arouse at least some confidence.

"Senior American officials have revealed their true goals. It's not drugs, it's not security, and it's not freedom –it's oil, minerals, and land," he said.

The diplomat also stressed that Venezuela is only Trump's first goal of establishing geopolitical dominance in Latin America.

At the same time, the Framework highly appreciated the results of the meeting.

"Venezuela has won a major victory at the UN. It has been proven in the Security Council that no country in the world, not even the historical allies of the United States, approves of the use or threat of use of force in violation of the UN Charter in order to subjugate a free and sovereign nation under the false pretext of combating drug trafficking," Foreign Minister Ivan Gil Pinto wrote on his Telegram channel.

Russia also expressed support for Caracas at the meeting, as expected. Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, confirmed "solidarity with the Venezuelan people in the face of the trials they are experiencing, support for the course of the government of Nicolas Maduro aimed at protecting the national interests and sovereignty of their homeland."

On the same day, the National Assembly of Venezuela passed a law imposing penalties of up to 20 years in prison for those who help finance "acts of piracy" by the United States.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to put direct pressure on the Venezuelan authorities, whom he considers representatives of the terrorist organization Cartel of the Suns. In a recent message, the American president said that resigning would be a "smart move" on the part of Nicolas Maduro.

"What he wants to do is up to him. I think it would be smart of him to do that," the American leader said. "If he wants to do something, demonstrate rigidity, this will be the last time he will be able to demonstrate rigidity."

It remains unclear how far the United States is willing to go in achieving its goals with regard to Venezuela. The risk of military intervention still remains, and Trump continues to threaten a ground operation at every opportunity, despite the fact that the measure does not find support either within Congress or among American citizens.