Cut Off From Fuel, Cuba Is Still Surviving

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https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/27/world/americas/trump-oil-gas-cuba-havana.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1FA.Zql6.pbsSEc1cSKGY

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50636966

President Trump has tried to strangle Cuba by blocking its oil imports. But six months later, the island is finding ways to endure.

“We have not reached the point of having a humanitarian crisis precisely because of the strength of our society,” Mr. Fernández de Cossio, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, said in Havana’s Fidel Castro museum, where the lights were on but the air-conditioning had failed. “The intimate expectation in political circles in the United States was that Cuba could not survive beyond April. And here we are.”

July 27, 2026

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They are swapping their gas-guzzling 1950s American cars for electric motorcycles and rickshaws from China; importing hefty lithium batteries to keep televisions and fans running through blackouts; jury-rigging generators to run on more accessible natural gas; and installing solar panels on rooftops and even vehicles.

As a result, Cuba has been powering its electric grid solely with domestic oil and gas and a growing network of solar parks sponsored by China. Together, they are enough to support roughly half of Cuban demand, according to Jorge Piñón, who studies Cuban energy at the University of Texas.

It’s China. Glad to see them materially helping. If the US does not invade, Cuba may be in for a new beginning.

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Here’s to a solarpunk-ish Cuba

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China is the only ones who can actually do anything, as the US’s Cuba super sanctions make it impossible for anyone in the western world to do anything. I’m glad they’re helping Cuba build an independence from the world to protect them from the collective punishment of imperial interests.

The people of Cuba are so unbelievably strong, and I hope they can get their quality of life back one day.

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Blockade incoming

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Block China and China blocks export of rare earths or something else and industries panic.

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Definitely not the ideal way to implement a transition off of oil but inspiring nonetheless.

I do wonder why Cuba didn’t make greater efforts to turn to solar in years past. If they had, they could have avoided some, though probably not all, of this pain.

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I do wonder why Cuba didn’t make greater efforts to turn to solar in years past. If they had, they could have avoided some, though probably not all, of this pain.

I imagine that it wasn’t about will but more about having a neighbor making life hard for them to trade for decades

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Obviously a factor but the article notes a huge rollout over the past year. So it seems like that could have started previously. It’s not like the US has stopped interfering.

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My uneducated take :

The US is turning against pretty much every allies they have.

China sees this and swoop in with human aid where it’s needed, creating an influence there for future favors.

China is the factory of the world and a military super power. They see the US burning their ammo in Iran and Russia has shown that they were not that great of a power to begin with. China can get cheap resources from countries they helped.

So China is simply setting itself as the next world super power since Trump has made sure that the US is losing influence pretty much with everyone.

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Fuck USA, not just Trump but USA.

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Trump’s foreign policy being the main driving force for global decarbonization was not on my bingo card for this year.

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The rest of the world slowly walking away while we enjoy our two man circle jerk (with Israel) was on my bingo card.

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