Trump reverses course on Cuban oil blockade, allows Russian tanker to pass

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE – US President Donald Trump on March 29 signalled he was reversing course on blocking oil shipments to Cuba, saying he had “no problem” with any country sending in crude, as a Russian tanker arrived at a Cuban port with a badly needed shipment.

A sanctioned Russian vessel, part of the country’s “shadow fleet”, was just off the coast of eastern Cuba on March 29, according to ship tracking data, and arrived at the port of Matanzas on March 30 – a lifeline for the country’s economy, which has nearly ground to a halt under a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington.

The US cut off Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba after toppling Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Jan 3, and Mr Trump threatened to impose punishing tariffs on any other country that sent crude to Cuba.

Mexico, the largest supplier to Cuba along with Venezuela, then halted its shipments.

As a result, Cuba has not received an oil tanker in three months, according to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, exacerbating an energy crisis that has led to strict rationing of petrol and a series of blackouts across the country of 10 million people.

Cuban health officials say the crisis has increased the mortality risk for Cuban cancer patients, especially children.

Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One, Mr Trump expressed sympathy for the Cuban people’s need for energy and said he was unconcerned with any assistance it might provide the communist government in Havana because he predicted it would soon fall on its own.

“If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba, right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not,” Mr Trump said.

“Cuba is finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.

“I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.”

While expressing concern for Cubans, Mr Trump has issued a series of threatening statements against the Cuban government and said he would turn more of his attention to the country 150km from US shores after dealing with Iran.

Russia said on March 30 that the oil tanker carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil had arrived in Cuba and that Moscow would stand by its “friends” in Cuba by working on further supplies.

“This issue was indeed raised in advance during contacts with our American partners,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Oil cargo could shore up Cuba for a month

Earlier in March, the US temporarily eased sanctions on Russia to help improve the global flow of oil, which has been restricted by the US-Israeli war with Iran.

However, that measure also created exemptions that explicitly banned transactions involving Cuba and other places such as Iran, North Korea and Crimea.

The official Cuban news outlet Cubadebate called the Russian shipment a direct challenge to the US oil blockade, after the Russian navy escorted the sanctioned vessel through the English Channel on its way to the Caribbean.

The New York Times, citing a US official briefed on the matter, reported that the US Coast Guard allowed the sanctioned vessel to sail to Cuba, but it was unclear why. Blocking the tanker by force, however, could have escalated the risk of conflict with Russia at a precarious time in geopolitics.

Mr Brett Erickson of consulting firm Obsidian Risk Advisors said the arrival of the Anatoly Kolodkin was significant in the light of the British government allowing another ship from Russia’s shadow fleet, the VAYU 1, to pass through the English Channel, after announcing last week it had authorised its military to board such ships passing through British waters.

He said Russia has been receiving a “very big windfall from the war in Iran”, while also providing crucially needed oil for Cuba, whose strategic importance to Moscow has increased since the fall of allies in Syria and Venezuela and with Iran under attack.

“Havana doesn’t need very much oil to operate. The Kolodkin is carrying about two and a half weeks of oil, but that can be extended to about a month in total,” Mr Erickson said, considering Cuban rationing.

Asked if further Russian shipments would follow, Mr Peskov said: “In the desperate situation that Cubans now find themselves in, this, of course, cannot leave us indifferent, so we will continue to work on this.” REUTERS