Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

upi.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 289 posts

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#111

Post by _whiteCaps_ »

daedrdev wrote: post #38

The US has had an embargo on Cuba for a long time that exempted Food and Medicine, while other countries freely traded with Cuba. However, under the Trump admin it has turned into a de-facto blockade of all fuel, which really isn't the embargo, it's a new blockade by the US against Cuba. So I don't get why we blame it on the embargo when the current problems are clearly caused by the blockade. Cuba's previous economi…

Other countries are in a Catch-22 situation regarding Cuba - for example in Canada, Canadian law penalizes companies that refuse to trade with Cuba in order to comply with U.S. sanctions, and U.S. law can penalize them if they do trade.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#112

Post by Manuel_D »

j_maffe wrote: post #94
Manuel_D wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have been boarding ships that fly false flags. That is, they claim to be flying under the flag of some country. But when the US contacts that country to confirm that the ship is really registered there, the government of that country replies that the ship is not, in fact, registered. This is legal to do regardless of the embargo against Cuba. There are plenty of ships that move good and resources to Cuba that do…

You're straight-up lying. Very shameful thing to do in defence of a heinous act. UN experts condemn US executive order imposing fuel blockade on Cuba https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/un-experts-c...

If you read the link closely, nowhere does it actually say the US is employing military force to stop ships from docking in Cuba - that's what a blockade is. The author of the piece is essentially trying to redefine "blockade" to mean "embargo".

Again, the ships that actually were boarded were doing illegal things like flying false flags to try and continue to trade with Cuba without triggering retaliatory tariffs.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#113

Post by janderson215 »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #70
mlmonkey wrote: post #4

I don't really understand the point of the embargo. I am an American. Picking on a tiny country like Cuba serves no purpose. The elites in Cuba are not going to suffer; the normal people will. Instead of acting like a bully, I wish our government would be more magnanimous and just drop the embargo.

As a nation, we're still pissed off that those uppity dark skinned people (/s) overthrew our businesses and replaced the corrupt politicians installed by our government/businesses. Generally, when other nations do that, we invade them. Repeating that pattern in Central America led to coining the phrase "banana republic" to describe it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic Also, we're still pissed off at Iran…

Nice try attributing it to racism.

> Therefore, the term banana republic is a pejorative descriptor for a servile oligarchy that abets and supports, for kickbacks, the exploitation of large-scale plantation agriculture, especially banana cultivation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#114

Post by input_sh »

daedrdev wrote: post #58
oceanplexian wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This was the situation in the past, but the US has now forced Mexico and Vueneusalia to not ship Cuba gas. Of course the cuban economy is so weak it can't afford solar which could solved this, largely due to their own failures

Even in the past there has been a bunch of nonsense "rules" that made other countries choose between trading with Cuba or the US, but not both.

To name one, if a ship docks into Cuba without filing paperwork requesting to do so from the US, it cannot dock into any of the US ports within 180 days of leaving the Cuban territory.

To name another one, if some product is made somewhere else, but contains >10% of US-made parts or materials somewhere in its supply chain, then as far as the US government is concerned it might as well have been 100% made in the US and therefore cannot be exported to Cuba. Otherwise, the company that sold it to Cuba risks being banned from operating in the US.

So the US is and has been pretty much tilting the scale against any other country in the world trading with Cuba, using its own purchasing power as a bargaining chip.

As for solar panels, they do not solve your inability to move cars around. They do reduce your need for fuel, but when you're 100% out of fuel, no car can move around and no amount of solar panels is ever going to fix that.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#115

Post by j_maffe »

Manuel_D wrote: post #80
vrganj wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do you not realize that flying a false flag is illegal? It's the maritime equivalent of putting a fake license plate on your car. I'm seriously baffled at your attempt to equate boarding ships that are breaking maritime law with saying women invite rape by the way they dress.

Do you also not realize that starving people of life-saving resources is also illegal? https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/un-experts-c...

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#116

Post by Manuel_D »

mirzap wrote: post #90
Manuel_D wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have been boarding ships that fly false flags. That is, they claim to be flying under the flag of some country. But when the US contacts that country to confirm that the ship is really registered there, the government of that country replies that the ship is not, in fact, registered. This is legal to do regardless of the embargo against Cuba. There are plenty of ships that move good and resources to Cuba that do…

I’m curious how it’s legal to size a ship in international waters under any circumstances? We have a word for that - piracy.

It's legal because the ships were flying false flags. They claim that they're registered in country X, but when the US calls up country X they are told that the ship is not, in fact, registered there.

Maritime law exists, and enforcing it is not an act of piracy.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#118

Post by lostlogin »

Manuel_D wrote: post #92
vrganj wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a boycott. It's an embargo. The US is boarding and seizing boats with supplies headed for Cuba. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/world/americas/venezuela-...

These ships were flying false flags, which is a violation of maritime law. It's legal to board and size ships doing this, regardless of embargos.

Yet when Russia plays games with false flags and oil exports, American is too scared to act.

Even with Russia adding Iranian attacks on US bases, the US remains quiet.

It’s a strange world.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#119

Post by daedrdev »

mothballed wrote: post #69
daedrdev wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cuba let 20% of the population leave in 2020-24 so that they would have fewer dissenters in the country who might overthrow the government. Thats a higher rate of population per year than the peak of the great Irish famine

Where does one go with one of the weakest passports in the world, no assets, no family connections, and probably only sporadically any skills capable of getting a work visa? I need to get on speed dial whatever immigration lawyer those people had.

I can't find the article but I did read a few years ago most had left to either Mexico or the US. The US had a very favorable program for cubans to enter, work and stay in the country under the Biden admin.

The cuban government via National Office of Statistics and Information admitted it fell by at least 10%, but have not done a census in 15 years. Independent estimates range form 18-24%.

Re: Cuba says it has run out of fuel, blames U.S. embargo

#120

Post by ceejayoz »

imvgikviktbt wrote: post #77
ASalazarMX wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US is not enforcing a blockade, it's an embargo. Oh, so USA is only forcing their trade partners to embargo Cuba! That makes thing better, right?

Which countries have US forced embargoes on Cuba?

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/world/americas/cuba-russi...

> The Trump administration had been enforcing what amounted to an oil blockade around Cuba since January, threatening nations that had been sending fuel to the country and, in one case, escorting a tanker heading toward Cuba away from the island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Cuban_crisis

> The United States began blocking oil tankers heading to Cuba in February 2026, targeting companies such as the Mexican state-owned Pemex and threatening the responsible countries with tariffs should they resist.

> After the ousting of Maduro, the United States began increasing its pressure on Mexico to reduce its oil sales to Cuba with President Donald Trump threatening tariffs against any country supplying Cuba with oil. Mexico temporarily halted shipments of oil to Cuba by 27 January and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the decision to halt oil deliveries was "a sovereign decision".

Post reply on HN