Double the Oil Shipments to Cuba!

Last Thursday, Trump announced additional tariffs on every country that sends oil to Cuba, while deploying an aircraft carrier and ships to the north of the island and boasting that Cuba "will not be able to survive." The triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and the workers' state that emerged from it, just miles from the U.S., have always been an affront to the imperialists, and Trump is determined to end it now. The threat of tariffs is aimed especially at Mexico which, after the U.S. invasion of Venezuela, became essentially the sole supplier of crude oil to Cuba. If this attack goes unopposed, demoralization will spread among the Latin American working masses—who have historically seen Cuba as a beacon of anti-imperialist struggle—and Trump will advance his goal of brutally subjugating the entire region. Resistance is necessary. Down with the blockade! Yankees out of Cuba and all of Latin America!

Sheinbaum has warned that Trump's measures could unleash a humanitarian crisis on the island, "directly affecting hospitals, food, and other basic services for the Cuban people." This is true! Mexico should challenge the blockade and urgently send even more oil to Cuba. However, the Mexican government has taken the far from "sovereign" decision to suspend shipments and seek a diplomatic solution to the conflict, trying to appease the imperialists and the Mexican elite. Cuba has no time to waste on futile maneuvers. Sheinbaum's decision represents a betrayal and a death sentence for the Cuban people.

Many think that the president is doing what she can under the present circumstances, and that she is putting the interests of Mexico first. By now it should be clear that Trump is not interested in diplomacy and negotiation, but in complete submission. It is not a capitulation to retreat and live another day to fight, but that is not what is happening here. In reality, the Mexican government has ended up giving in to everything Trump has wanted, which can only bring more subjugation. Just look at what is happening in Venezuela! The country is not in a position of total defenselessness. Mexico can use the deep integration of the U.S. and Mexican economies to its advantage; for example, by halting the supply chains of U.S. industries or confiscating imperialist assets held here if the threats continue. But to do so, it is necessary to mobilize workers against extortion and not bow to imperialist diktats.

Even though Trump has stated several times that after Venezuela, the next on the list are Cuba, Colombia, and Mexico, Sheinbaum has been trying to sell us the idea that a military attack on our country is impossible. This is a deadly illusion. The defense of Cuba is not a matter of abstract solidarity, but vital to our own defense. The same force that is suffocating Cuba is economically strangling Mexico, causing thousands of layoffs in the maquiladoras and the auto industry, ruining entire communities. The unions will have more strength to defend themselves against these attacks the more that the country stands up to the imperialists. But the obstacle to mobilizing the powerful muscle of the Mexican proletariat is the current union leaderships, which easily spout rhetoric about national sovereignty and support for Cuba, but share Sheinbaum's strategy of "defending" the country and have not lifted a finger. The unions must take up the defense of Cuba as their own; in particular, the oil workers' union must ensure oil shipments. Today, more than ever, it is necessary to fight. For a united anti-imperialist front in defense of Cuba and Mexico!