Episode Details

Cuba has run out of fuel. The island nation of 10 million people has depleted its supplies of diesel, gasoline, and natural gas. Havana now goes 20-22 hours a day without electricity. Electric water pumps no longer function. Food cannot be delivered across the country. Schools and public transit have shut down. The cause is the United States blockade, expanded by the Trump administration in January 2026 and intensified through sanctions threats against any country that attempts to sell Cuba oil.

Cuba needs approximately 8 fuel tankers per month to meet basic energy needs. In April, the Trump administration permitted exactly one. The Cuban President has called the blockade “a genocidal energy blockade.” Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, starvation of civilians and the blocking of humanitarian relief are explicitly listed as prosecutable war crimes. Because the United States is not formally at war with Cuba, the same conduct also qualifies as a crime against humanity under international law.

On Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana to deliver a message that the United States would “seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes.” No American troops are at risk. No Cuban military threatens the United States. The U.S. military operates a base on Cuban soil at Guantanamo Bay. This is being done in your name, with your tax dollars, while corporate media looks away.

Sources:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2026/05/14/Cuba-says-oil-reserves-totally-drained/9311778746907/

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/protests-erupt-in-cuba-as-fuel-runs-out-8e577bc9

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/cia-director-visits-havana-as-fuel-runs-out-in-cuba-f3ac4286

https://apnews.com/article/cuba-us-meeting-cia-john-9a3e7946460f8e5e48424f3a59df3fe8

https://asil.org/insights/volume-22-issue-5/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/addressing-threats-to-the-united-states-by-the-government-of-cuba/