Ever since the consolidation of Cuba’s revolution in 1959, the small island has been a rock in the shoe of the US’s imperialist agenda, and has been punished for it accordingly. Trade sanctions, ridiculous taxes, and threats of military intervention have marked the past six decades of US-Cuba relations, a state of affairs that has only worsened since the dissolution of Cuba’s greatest economic ally — the USSR. In a manner most characteristic of his chauvinist, imperialist, and hyper-nationalist second term, Donald Trump not only follows suit in the now long-lived American tradition of antagonizing and threatening the sovereignty of the Cuban people, but raises the stakes — and the tariffs — by threatening them into bargaining without chips for their own freedom.

After the criminal kidnapping of the internationally recognized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, which has left Latin-America in various states of disarray, the White House released their note “Addressing The Threats to The United States By The Government of Cuba”, on which it deems Cuba a threat to the security of the United States, imposing tariffs onto any and all nations that sells, or in any way provides, oil to Cuba. This note has, of course, been coldly calculated, as Venezuela’s government, now under Trump’s wing, has ceased to provide Cuba with oil, cutting them off from what was previously a major ally in the region.

The effects upon the Cuban people seem to be felt immediately, as the island faces an energy crisis which impacts all forms of transportation, tourism — one of Cuba’s main sources of income — and travel, with the government issuing four day work weeks, reducing public transportation, as well as ordering a remote-work regimen for workers of state-owned companies as ways to lessen the economic blow. The sale of fuel within Cuba also seems to have been heavily restricted, as oil becomes rarer and its usage more strategic.

Cuba’s current president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, has stated that he is willing to negotiate with Trump, outlining his demands for a respectful, dignified conversation, without pressure from the US. The outlook for that seems bleak, however, as Cuba’s historical shortages of resources leave the island in a lose-lose situation, against an enemy that lacks any respect for the basic needs of its people and its sovereignty as a nation.

Indeed, as Adolfo Curbelo Castellanos, Cuba’s ambassador in Brazil, tells ICL Notícias, Cuba depends on the oil it is currently being denied for the functioning of basic infrastructural facilities, such as hospitals, food production, and all essential services. Trump’s pantomime of protecting the United States’ security is no more than a facade. Behind it lies an effort to expand American influence over Latin America and take down an ally of the Russian and Chinese governments. In doing so, he seeks to bury the promises of socialism and freedom from colonialism upon which modern Cuba has been built. There is no intention to, as the White House puts it in their wretched note, “hold the Cuban regime accountable”. Castellano’s account, rather than Trump’s, seems more likely, as he states these measures “point to a genocide, an open attack on the Cuban people.”