New US Blockade is Strangling Cuba

[NYGuido]

Gift link for anyone who wants to read this NYT story on how the US has created a de facto blockade against the island. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/world/americas/cuba-oil-blockade-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NlA.3o4r.86dcTmSu32RR&smid=nytcore-ios-share

[MrBirdman]

Beat me to it Chris - good article and a recommended read for everyone. Highlights how this is functionally a full blockade, not just of oil though that’s obviously the most crucial resource. As far as I know food shipments haven’t been impacted, but it’s a very fluid situation. 

[NYGuido]

5 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

Beat me to it Chris - good article and a recommended read for everyone. Highlights how this is functionally a full blockade, not just of oil though that’s obviously the most crucial resource. As far as I know food shipments haven’t been impacted, but it’s a very fluid situation. 

I think Mexico is still getting humanitarian aid in. I wouldn’t be surprised if China decided to frame some fuel shipments that way, either (I’ve been talking about this with some others who first proposed that idea) in order to garner public support. 

I don’t quite know what the end game is here, how it will ultimately benefit the Cuban people, or if they even want to rid themselves of their government. I’m just sad for them. 

[ImTripN2]

5 hours ago, NYGuido said:

I don’t quite know what the end game is here, how it will ultimately benefit the Cuban people, or if they even want to rid themselves of their government. I’m just sad for them. 

Here is what the average Cubano recieves each month from his 'government'. Hard to me to imagine anyone not in the ruling elite or military would want to continue living under the communists. Sad does not even begin to describe it.

🇨🇺 Exact Monthly Ration Amounts (Standard Adult)

Below is the clearest consolidated breakdown of what an adult Cuban is officially allotted each month. Availability varies, but these are the formal quantities.

Staples

Item	Monthly Amount (per adult)
Rice	6–7 lbs
Sugar (white + brown)	3 lbs (typically 2 lbs white, 1 lb brown)
Beans	1 lb
Cooking Oil	½ lb (≈ 250 ml)
Salt	1 small bag (not always monthly)
Coffee	4 oz (usually mixed with fillers like chickpeas)
Pasta	½ lb (not always included)
Matches	1 box

 

 

Protein Items

Item	Monthly Amount
Eggs	5–10 eggs (varies by supply)
Chicken	1 lb (sometimes replaced with another protein or skipped entirely)
Fish	1 lb (irregular)
Canned Meat	1 small can (sporadic)

 

 

Milk & Special Items

These are not given to most adults:

Group	Monthly Amount
Children under 7	1 liter of milk per day
Seniors (over 65)	Sometimes powdered milk or soy yogurt
Pregnant women / medical diets	Additional items depending on prescription

 

 

🧭 Important Context

• These quantities have not increased in decades; in fact, availability has worsened.

• The ration is designed to cover 7–10 days of food for the month.

• The entire ration typically costs under $2 USD at subsidized prices.

[Malt]

I can’t help but think this will affect their tobacco crops. How much of a cigar other than tobacco do they do themselves? Like bands, boxes, labels etc…

[yuppie]

I really just hope whatever needs to happen does so quickly. Dragging this on doesn't make much sense.

[El Presidente]

4 minutes ago, yuppie said:

 

Perhaps refrain from posting X doomscrollers as legitimate news sources. 

Post a link to a real article. 

[zacca]

4 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Perhaps refrain from posting X doomscrollers as legitimate news sources. 

Post a link to a real article. 

Yeah that is total fantasy land…for several reasons. Not even worth debating. 
 

One thing is pretty clear. Nobody is going to be helping Cuba to get anything out of it, unless some world leader is that big of a cigar junkie they want to take over HSA. Anything China and Russia do is simply to try to prevent the US from scoring any sort of geopolitical win. 
 

One thing I have seen is a lot of people thinking that Cuba is going to fall any day. I see it a bit different. The regime still controls the military, food supply, and financial systems. Nobody high up has broken rank, and I get a sense the people are so demoralized that there’s no spirit for any type of revolt. You need a couple of those things to flip before the possibility of the government falling starts to become inevitable. Until then, the regime still has control, and when they’ve had control for almost 70 years, they won’t just lay down. 
 

Now it’s possible a high ranking military officer who’s popular with the people goes rogue tomorrow and that sets things in motion…who knows. 

[NYGuido]

37 minutes ago, zacca said:

The regime still controls the military, food supply, and financial systems. Nobody high up has broken rank, and I get a sense the people are so demoralized that there’s no spirit for any type of revolt.

Money shot right here. The government doesn’t care about the people AT ALL and has what they need likely to survive for a while. I think this drags on to a point where it becomes genuinely tragic. 

[ATGroom]

5 hours ago, Malt said:

I can’t help but think this will affect their tobacco crops. How much of a cigar other than tobacco do they do themselves? Like bands, boxes, labels etc…

They need fuel for the irrigation pumps, but depending on when you consider 'this' to have started, the irrigation part of this year's harvest was probably already finished or close enough.

Most of the wrapper these days is cured in heated barns which burn diesel fuel. If they need to go back to the old fashioned way they can, but they would need double the barn capacity as it takes twice as long, and barns were already a bottleneck since the hurricane a few years ago.

Beyond that, all the sorting houses, storage, factories etc would normally have some kind of electrified climate control.

Many of the bands are printed overseas. The standard boxes are all made in Cuba. The labels were all printed in Cuba, but there was a dramatic increase in quality a couple of years ago. Not sure if this is because they got new equipment domestically or because they offshored it. I think it may be the former as I know there has been a drive to bring as much as possible domestic in the last few years.

All in all, would expect very low production this year.