Cuba Denounces US Fuel Seizures, Ship Interceptions
The Facts
- Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said in a post on Facebook on Wednesday that state and private entities on the island have the right to import, store and transport fuel, adding that what is illegal is to harass and intercept ships in international waters.
- This comes as U.S. agencies announced earlier that day the seizure of over 600,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel — worth over $2.8 million — bound for Cuba, due to an alleged violation of federal export laws. This included about 496,000 gallons at Port Everglades, Fla., and another 119,000 gallons at the Port of Houston.
- The fuel shipments were consigned to Cuba's state-run energy firm ENETEC S.A., which the U.S. Department of the Treasury added to a blacklist in July. ENETEC is an importing agency, so it's unclear who the actual buyers were.
Sources Split
LEFT
CENTER
RIGHT
+1
+2
+3
ESTAB
CRIT
CENTER
PRO
ESTAB
The Spin
Republican narrative
Sanctions only matter when enforced, and letting fuel quietly slip through to Cuba's sanctioned regime would turn the whole policy into a paper tiger. Businesses that cash in by fueling a communist dictatorship are putting profit ahead of national security. Seizing those cargoes at the dock is simply the law working as written.
Democratic narrative
Trump's Cuba policy is the problem. The U.S. is carrying out acts of war and calling them "the law working as written" while ignoring that ordinary Cubans are the ones suffering the most. Sanctions and blockade never toppled the Cuban regime, so the White House is only doubling down on a failed strategy.
Establishment-critical narrative
No government gets to appoint itself judge of who may sell fuel to a sovereign nation. As the U.S. chokes off the island's energy supply in its economic warfare campaign, it collectively punishes civilians by hitting hospitals, transportation and family kitchens.
