NEW YORK—In a powerful and unequivocal statement this week, the Communist Party USA condemned the Trump administration’s Jan. 29 executive order imposing a sweeping blockade on Cuba’s fuel supplies.
The party branded the move “cruel, illegal, and an escalation of the 65-year economic war against Cuba.” The CPUSA declared unwavering solidarity with the Cuban people, the Communist Party of Cuba, and their revolutionary government.
President Donald Trump’s order, which declares a “national emergency” on Cuba and threatens tariffs on any country supplying oil to the island, represents a new high in economic coercion and collective punishment.
The administration cynically labels Cuba a “malign influence” and a national security threat, claims sharply rejected by the CPUSA as “imperialist hypocrisy.” Cuba’s government has pointed out that the U.S. move to impose an “absolute blockade on fuel supplies” is a violation of international law.
The CPUSA statement underscored the human cost of the blockade, noting that the Trump administration’s claim to support Cuban aspirations for freedom rings hollow when Washington is actively starving the island of energy, medicine, and food. The fuel embargo risks deepening already severe power outages, food scarcity, and loss of essential services across Cuba—conditions that critics warn could precipitate a humanitarian crisis.
This latest escalation builds on a broader hardline Cuba policy under Trump, including re-imposing sanctions and rolling back diplomatic engagement from the Biden years. The executive order uses the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to authorize tariffs on imports from nations that provide oil to Cuba. It is a strategic attempt to isolate Havana economically by pressuring third-party partners like Mexico and others.
The tightening of the U.S. economic stranglehold on Cuba comes just weeks after the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the placement of restrictions on exports of that country’s oil. Venezuela has long been the main source of Cuban energy imports.
Cuba maintains it is open to respectful dialogue but refuses to trade away its sovereignty or socialist principles.
In its denunciation, the CPUSA also linked the blockade to what it called the “growing fascistic threat within the U.S.,” pledging to mobilize the working class and peace movement to demand an immediate rescinding of Trump’s executive order, a full lifting of the economic blockade, and the removal of Cuba from the “State Sponsors of Terrorism” list.
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
