The United States announced Tuesday it will permit the resale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, marking a significant easing of sanctions as Washington attempts to address a humanitarian crisis on the island while maintaining pressure on both regimes, according to Reuters.
The Treasury Department issued a general license Tuesday allowing third-party companies to purchase Venezuelan crude and refined products for delivery to Cuba, which has faced severe fuel shortages threatening basic services including hospitals, transportation, and electricity generation.
"This is a humanitarian measure," a senior State Department official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The Cuban people should not suffer energy deprivation because of our disagreements with their government or Caracas."
The timing is notable. The announcement came just hours before Cuban military forces shot and killed four people aboard a US-registered speedboat in waters south of Florida, a tragic incident that threatens to complicate the modest diplomatic recalibration the oil decision represents.
To understand today's headlines, we must look at yesterday's decisions. US sanctions on Venezuela have tightened progressively since 2019, when Washington recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president and imposed sweeping restrictions on Venezuelan oil exports. Those sanctions devastated Venezuela's already collapsing economy but failed to dislodge President Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba, meanwhile, has faced its own comprehensive US embargo since 1962. The island historically relied on subsidized Venezuelan oil under the governments of Hugo Chávez and Maduro, but Venezuela's own production collapse left Cuba unable to secure adequate fuel supplies.
The result has been catastrophic for ordinary Cubans. Blackouts lasting 12 hours or more have become routine. Hospitals have canceled non-emergency procedures. Public transportation has been slashed. Agricultural production has fallen due to fuel shortages for tractors and irrigation systems.
"People are suffering in ways we haven't seen since the Special Period," said Dr. Rosa María Hernández, referring to the economic crisis that followed the Soviet Union's collapse in the 1990s. Dr. Hernández, who fled Cuba last year, worked at a Havana hospital where surgeries were postponed due to generator fuel shortages.
The new policy effectively allows companies in countries without their own sanctions on Venezuela—primarily China, India, and other Asian nations—to purchase Venezuelan oil and resell it to Cuba without risking US penalties. The arrangement maintains technical sanctions on both regimes while creating humanitarian exemptions.
"It's a clever workaround," explained Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin America Energy Program at the University of Texas. "Washington isn't directly easing sanctions on Venezuela or Cuba, but it's removing the threat that prevented third parties from facilitating fuel shipments."
Reactions from Capitol Hill have been predictably divided. Progressive Democrats welcomed the humanitarian focus. "Finally, some compassion for the Cuban people," said Representative Ilhan Omar. "Embargos hurt ordinary people, not dictators."
Republican lawmakers, particularly those representing Cuban-American communities in Florida, condemned the decision. Senator Marco Rubio called it "appeasement of two brutal regimes" and vowed to "use every tool available" to reverse the policy.
The Venezuelan government hailed the announcement as vindication. "Sanctions failed, and the empire admits defeat," Information Minister Freddy Ñáñez said in a statement. However, the general license includes strict conditions preventing Maduro's government from directly profiting—revenues must flow to companies, not state coffers.
In Havana, official reaction was more measured. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez described the decision as "a small step that doesn't address the fundamental injustice of the embargo" but acknowledged it could bring "some relief to our people."
Energy analysts suggest the practical impact may be modest initially. Venezuelan oil production, while recovering from its 2020 nadir, remains well below historical levels. Cuba needs approximately 100,000 barrels per day to function normally but has been receiving less than 40,000. The new policy might increase supplies to 60,000 barrels daily within six months—meaningful but insufficient.
Canada and Mexico, which have maintained ties with Cuba throughout the embargo, welcomed the US decision. Both countries have provided emergency fuel shipments to Cuba in recent months, recognizing the humanitarian stakes and potential for regional instability if the island's crisis deepens.
The broader question remains whether this signals a fundamental shift in US policy toward Cuba or merely tactical adjustment. The Trump administration has sent mixed signals—maintaining hardline rhetoric while taking pragmatic steps when crises demand responses.
For the Cuban people enduring blackouts and fuel queues, the policy details matter less than practical results. "We just want the lights to stay on," said Carlos Suárez, a Havana taxi driver interviewed via phone. "Whatever allows that—sanctions, no sanctions, Venezuelan oil, anyone's oil—just let us live normally."
As the Caribbean enters the heated months of spring, when electricity demand surges for cooling, the effectiveness of this policy shift will become clear. For now, it represents an acknowledgment that even the most entrenched geopolitical positions must sometimes bend to humanitarian realities.
