Cubas crisis was created by its own socialist politicians, not Trumps blockade

Cuba’s children returned to school this week in a country running on fumes.Schools lack teachers, food and reliable electricity.The government had uniforms for just 12% of primary pupils, while some families rely on horse-drawn carts because fuel is scarce.The suffering is undeniable.

Havana’s excuse is not.The Democratic Socialists of America say Washington “manufactured” the crisis through six decades of blockade.CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin calls President Trump’s latest pressure a “brutal, medieval siege.”While this year’s effort to choke off oil shipments has plainly intensified Cuba’s fuel shortage, the island was already collapsing way before the Donroe Doctrine came into effect.Cuba’s own economy minister acknowledged in 2025 that output had fallen more than 10% since 2019.

Agriculture, livestock and mining had plunged 53.4% in five years.Manufacturing fell 23%.Those losses came before Trump’s January energy embargo.The real culprit is a system that punishes production.Havana nationalized farms, fixes prices, channels imports through state middlemen and restricts private enterprise.

The predictable results are low productivity, chronic shortages and dependence on foreign currency.Washington did not force Havana to pour nearly 40% of state investment into tourism-linked construction and business services in the first half of 2024.The regime spent 4.6 times as much there as on health, education and agriculture combined.And Washington did not spend decades bolstering an inflated sugar economy.

The Soviet Union bought Cuban sugar above market prices and sold Havana discounted oil.Soviet inflows averaged almost 23% of Cuba’s GDP from 1985 to 1988.When that support vanished, Cuba’s economy shrank about 40% from 1990 to 1993.

The system never became self-sufficient because it never had to.Hugo Chávez’s Venezuela then took Moscow’s place.Caracas eventually shipped 100,000 barrels of oil a day and paid inflated prices for Cub...