The RecordExhibit 81
An oil blockade to force a change of government in Cuba
Alleged means: Serious, credible accusations of illegality that no court or watchdog has decided yet.
A Jan. 29 executive order threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sends oil to Cuba, choking off the island's fuel imports as Trump pushed openly for regime change.
What happened
The order followed the capture of Venezuela's president, which had already ended Cuba's main oil supply. UN human rights experts said only one tanker, a Russian one, had been allowed to reach the island since January. On Oct. 2, 2026, the Coast Guard announced it had seized two ships bound for Cuba that it said were illegally carrying diesel fuel in their ballast tanks: the 300-foot tanker Grace, seized in September, and a ship carrying 200,000 gallons of fuel, seized in June. UN agencies report repeated grid failures and blackouts that disrupt hospitals, leave them short of medicine and cancer treatment, and worsen food insecurity. Trump has floated a 'friendly takeover' and said he expects to have 'the honor of taking Cuba.' At the UN in September he called it a failed state that will fall, and the Cuban delegation walked out.
Where it stands
No court has ruled on the blockade itself, but the tariff threat in the Jan. 29 order is no longer in force. On Feb. 20, 2026, the day the Supreme Court ruled that the emergency law Trump relied on does not allow tariffs (a separate entry here), he signed an order ending the emergency-law tariffs in nine executive orders, the Cuba order among them. That order kept the national emergency he declared over Cuba in effect and left every other action taken under it untouched. Independent UN human rights experts call the blockade illegal, say the sanctions breach the UN Charter, and in August condemned a new round of them as coercion of a sovereign state. They report a backlog of more than 96,000 surgeries, including 11,000 for children.
The administration's side
The executive order declares Cuba's government an extraordinary threat to U.S. national security. Trump calls Cuba a failing communist state whose government is negotiating with Washington, and on Sept. 26 said he expected a deal: 'I don't think we'll need the military.'
Sources
Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/cuba/