Rafael, a category 3 hurricane, swept Cuba from south to north this Wednesday, before losing intensity as it entered the Gulf of Mexico. The very violent winds, of up to 185 km/h, did not cause any casualties but caused the island's electrical system to collapse for almost a day. Cuba, which had already suffered a general blackout two weeks earlier, indeed suffers from a fragile electricity network, almost entirely dependent on fossil fuels to power its eight dilapidated thermoelectric power stations.
In this regard, the last report presented in 2023 by the Secretary General of the UN General Assembly on the “Need to lift the blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States” highlighted the direct impact caused to the electrical infrastructure of the country by the disengagement of international companies in the supply of spare parts, following the extraterritorial application of American sanctions. “ Cuba cannot acquire the fuel necessary for its thermoelectric power plants, nor the spare parts essential for infrastructure maintenance », underlines Salim Lamrani, while recalling the disastrous impact of the policies put in place against the island by the new president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, during his first visit to the White House (2016-2020) .
Salim Lamrani, professor of Latin American history at the University of La Réunion, specialist in relations between Cuba and the United States.
Cuba is experiencing a new collapse of the electricity system… Is there not a risk of seeing the population sink into despair? The country has already experienced demonstrations of discontent in recent years, particularly to denounce repeated power cuts…
The United States is primarily responsible for the dramatic situation in which the Cubans find themselves. For more than six decades, Washington has imposed inhumane economic sanctions that affect all sectors of Cuban society and constitute the main obstacle to the island's development.
Cuba cannot acquire the fuel necessary for its thermoelectric power plants, nor the spare parts essential for infrastructure maintenance. The United States is threatening sanctions against shipowners and shipping companies that transport fuel to Cuba. Furthermore, several companies, which supplied spare parts necessary for the maintenance of electrical sites, stopped their commercial exchanges with Cuba for fear of US reprisals.
Economic sanctions cost on average $5 billion per year, or $15 million per day, or even $10,000 per minute in Cuba! Since their imposition in 1960, they have cost a total of $165 billion. Without these sanctions, Cuba would be one of the most prosperous countries in Latin America and the Third World.
Is there not a risk, for the government, that new generations – who have grown up and lived their entire lives under the effects of the embargo – will associate their living conditions with the socialism advocated by the authorities? And as a result, they distance themselves from or reject the Cuban revolutionary project?
Cubans have a great political culture and know that the serious difficulties they face are directly linked to the unilateral economic sanctions imposed by the United States. However, for the younger generations who have only known the Special Period and its shortages, convictions can sometimes waver. Due to daily difficulties and lack of prospects, these young people, with a level of education and training comparable to that of the most advanced countries, have higher expectations. The national challenge that the authorities must face is therefore also ideological.
Fomenting the despair of the population was precisely the main objective of the United States when it imposed its first sanctions against Cuba in 1960?
US diplomatic rhetoric justifying the maintenance of a hostile policy towards Cuba has continued to evolve over time. In 1960, when Eisenhower imposed the first unilateral coercive measures, he justified his decision by mentioning the nationalization of American properties. In 1962, when his successor, John F. Kennedy, imposed total sanctions against the island, he invoked an alliance with the Soviet Union. In the 1970s and 1980s, Washington explained that Havana's support for revolutionary and independence movements around the world posed an obstacle to policy change.
Finally, since the collapse of the USSR, the United States has been advancing the issue of democracy and human rights to prolong its economic war. In reality, the United States refuses to recognize Cuba's independence and to accept that the island has chosen a different political system and socio-economic model.
Difficult to envisage improvements with the next return of D. Trump to power…
When he came to power in 2017, Donald Trump made a complete reversal of foreign policy towards Cuba, putting an end to the constructive measures taken by Barack Obama. During his presidency, Trump imposed no less than 243 new coercive measures, including 50 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, an average of one additional sanction per week for four years. He targeted the island's three main sources of income: international medical cooperation, money transfers from the Cuban community based in the United States, and tourism, with the aim of suffocating the island.
This increase in sanctions has had a disastrous impact on the proper functioning of the economy, creating all kinds of shortages, and has greatly affected the Cuban population, particularly the most vulnerable categories. Furthermore, a few days before the end of his mandate, Trump included Cuba on the list of countries supporting terrorism. Since then, more than 1,000 international banks have refused any collaboration with the island, which has a crucial need for credit and foreign investment, for fear of reprisals.
The election of Joe Biden in 2020 has raised hopes for sanctions relief. However, despite his commitments, Biden, who was vice-president under Obama, decided to maintain the main coercive measures taken by his predecessor. However, it has the necessary prerogatives to dismantle most of the sanctions regime.
An improvement in relations is difficult to envisage with the re-election of Donald Trump. For its part, for more than six decades, Cuba has learned to cohabit with this anachronistic, cruel and illegal state of siege, which violates the fundamental rights of more than 10 million inhabitants and which is unanimously condemned by the international community.
