The US economic strangulation of Cuba has intensified, and as resistance to Trump mounts in the US itself, ‘Hands off Cuba’ needs to be an international call, argues John Clarke

It is abundantly clear that the Trump administration is determined to achieve regime change in Cuba by wilfully generating as much hardship and privation as possible, particularly by cutting off fuel supplies. It is equally apparent that the attack on Cuba is only one manifestation of a broader threat posed by the vigorous application of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ of regional domination.

A report in the Guardian on 1 February notes that only ‘one oil shipment has arrived this year – 84,900 barrels from Mexico – according to the data consultancy Kpler. Given current reserves, if no more tankers arrive, Kpler estimates Cuba will run out of fuel in the next three weeks.’

On 29 January, Trump signed an executive order allowing for tariffs to be applied against any country that sells oil to the island nation. With standard absurdity, it claims that these tactics were necessary in order to ‘protect American citizens and interests’ from a regime that supposedly provides ‘a safe haven for transnational terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.’

Trump had previously declared that ‘Cuba will be failing pretty soon’, leaving no doubt as to his objectives. Since his order was issued, Mexico has cancelled an oil shipment that was due, in a move that president Claudia Sheinbaum implausibly declared was a ‘sovereign decision’. This harsh result of US intimidation compounds the disastrous impacts of the cutting off of oil supplies from Venezuela, following the US attack on that country and the abduction of its president.

One commentator suggested that ‘[If Cuba runs out,] the impact would be catastrophic as diesel fuels transportation – both passenger and commercial, the railroad, agriculture, industry, water distribution and sugarcane.’ Clearly, profound economic disruption that reaches the scale of a humanitarian crisis is being deliberately set in motion.

The single-minded aggression of the Trump administration can’t be doubted. However, it appears that the option of trying to obtain submission without the outright overthrow of the Cuban government, modelled on events in Venezuela, may be under consideration in Washington.

On 1 February, Trump told reporters that ‘… we’re talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens … I think we’re going to make a deal with Cuba.’ For its part, the Cuban leadership has issued defiant public statements but Common Dreams also reports that ‘Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said the country is open to expanding “bilateral cooperation” with the US.’ 

The US objective, however, whether it is obtained through forced capitulation or a continuing policy of economic strangulation, is to bring to an end any possibility of Cuban defiance and to return the island to the submissive status that existed prior to the revolution of 1959. 

Regional domination

The assertion of US control over Cuba constitutes a prized objective within a broader strategy of regional domination throughout Latin America and the Caribbean that the Trump administration has developed and that it is now putting into effect. Its National Security Strategy has become a much-quoted document because it sets out the agenda that is at work with a brutal candour.

The framers of the US strategy speak of the need to focus on control of ‘our Hemisphere’ and proudly proclaim to the world that the ‘Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests’ (p.15). They also express the need to obtain governing regimes that serve the interests of US imperialism without any equivocation. A network of ‘regional champions that can help create tolerable stability in the region’ (p.16) is to be established.

According to ABC News, Trump has added a touch of flourish to these formulations by declaring that ‘… the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Doctrine.’ Secretary of state Marco Rubio highlighted, moreover, that the exploitation of the region was to be the exclusive preserve of the US. He declared that ‘… we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.’

There is no doubt that the political leaders of the US have long nurtured a deep and particular hatred for the Cuban Revolution and efforts to contain and ultimately defeat it have been pursued relentlessly, even obsessively, over decades by Republicans and Democrats alike. Writing for Counterfire in 2016, Dominic Alexander, though he details the limitations of the political movement that led the Revolution and the contradictions in the society that it created, points to the features of what was forged that have long generated fear and loathing in Washington.

Alexander argues that the ‘prominence of the Cuban cause is largely bound up with its astonishing success in resisting the vicious and unrelenting pressure of US imperialism. Just as post-colonial regimes were advances on direct imperial rule, so Cuba’s struggle for autonomy is of considerable significance, and deserves international solidarity. The fact that a small island has been able to resist a world superpower would be enough, but the Cuban state has also put to shame much wealthier states with its attention to social need, most notably in its medical programmes.’

Based on this well-supported assessment and, despite the escalating economic difficulties and social tensions that Cuba has faced in the recent period, it is easy to see how the present US fixation with tightening its grip on Latin America and the Caribbean leads the planners in Washington to view the crushing of longstanding Cuban resistance and defiance as a pivotal component of their ruthless strategy.

Solidarity with Cuba

At this time, we are watching people taking to the streets in Minneapolis and other cities across the US to confront Trump’s racist immigration enforcers and to challenge the authoritarian political agenda of his administration. A very much more robust and radical opposition to Trump may emerge in this situation than the Democratic Party establishment would like to see. 

If the movement against Trump is to fight back as it needs to and develop winning political perspectives, it will need to match its challenge to the administration’s regressive domestic policies with a readiness to confront its predatory international objectives, particularly in Latin America.

While Trump and those around him are clearly determined to impose the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, they are also looking for ways to move forward in pursuit of their objectives at relatively low cost and without having to deploy large-scale military operations. The tactics they have employed so far have involved economic pressure, political intimidation and the limited and selective use of military force, augmented by generous supplies of threats and bluster from Trump himself.

Yet, initial successes in obtaining compliance and cooperation from political leaderships in the region notwithstanding, the course that the Trump administration is setting is one that can only generate large-scale resistance in a part of the world that has a long history of resisting US domination. It will be vital to ensure that this resistance enjoys strong international solidarity, particularly within the US itself.

As US imperialism seeks to tighten its grip on Latin America, moving towards a greatly intensified model of domination and exploitation, the legacy of the Cuban Revolution and the inspiration it has provided over decades is seen in Washington as a symbol of defiance that must be torn down. 

At this moment, the call ‘Hands off Cuba’ needs to be taken up around the world at this decisive juncture because we all have a stake in confronting the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ and in thwarting its destructive and predatory objectives.