Cuba faces severe shortages as US oil shipments stop and internet access becomes a key bargaining chip in negotiations with Trump.
Havana: Cuba is in big trouble. The last oil ship came in December 2025 with 598,000 barrels of crude. This is the last oil Cuba has to make electricity and keep things running.
President Trump stopped oil shipments and put taxes on other countries that sell oil to Cuba. Mexico sent some oil after sending 84,900 barrels, but President Claudia Sheinbaum won’t send more after Trump pushed her. Cuba needs imported oil for power, cars, and business.
The Castro government must choose: talk with Trump to end the blockade or let the economy stop working. One big topic they may talk about is internet access – something people who don’t like the government want very much.
In 2015, Cuba let more people use the internet for the first time. This changed everything. Before, the Communist Party controlled all the news through their TV and newspapers. Now people could share their ideas online and read different news sources.
By 2021, people grew strong enough to march in almost every city. They shouted for freedom and wanted the dictatorship to end. The government fought back hard – one person died and over a thousand were arrested. Many had to leave Cuba.
After that, the government watched people more closely and made internet access harder to get. They want to stop another large protest movement. Internet control is now very important to the Castro regime.