On March 4, a large-scale blackout hit western Cuba that left millions of people without power after Cuba’s largest plant unexpectedly shut down.
Unión Eléctrica, the Cuban government entity responsible for electrical energy, reported the power plant came back online on March 8. Despite the plant resuming service, there is still limited power availability across the country. On March 9, electrical services were only able to meet 38% of Cuba’s energy demands.
A previous blackout on February 4 resulted in 3.4 million people losing power in four eastern provinces.
The head of US imperialism Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 29 that imposed additional duty fees on products of countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, intensifying the US blockade on the island that was established in 1960 following the Cuban Revolution.
Between 1960 and 2018, the US blockade on Cuba cost the Cuban economy an estimated $933 billion.
On March 5, Trump suggested that his administration would turn its attention to Cuba after it ends its operations against Iran, where US forces have suffered numerous casualties.
At a press conference on March 9, Trump again threatened Cuba with military intervention saying “It may be a friendly takeover. It may not be a friendly takeover. It wouldn’t matter because they are down to, as they say, fumes.”
US imperialism’s attack on Cuba is part of its intensified campaign to deepen its domination over Latin America in order to maintain its status as the world’s sole hegemonic imperialist superpower.
Prior to its escalation against Cuba, US forces kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and pressured Acting President Delcy Rodríguez into capitulation to US monopolists at gunpoint. Venezuela had been the main supplier of oil to Cuba, which the Trump administration pressed the Venezuelan government to end through piracy of Venezuelan oil, a bombing campaign against the country, and threats to renew its invasion.
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