US to Cuba: Genocide by way of oil blockade

by JR Valrey

After abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the first couple of days in 2026, the US government announced the tightening of the unjust 65-year blockade against the socialist nation of Cuba, cutting off completely its supplies of Venezuelan and Mexican oil and furthermore threatening any country that helps Cuba with severe sanctions. These are the first stages in a US government plan for genociding the Cuban people, similar to how the US and Israelis have blocked food and resources from coming into Gaza over the last few years and implemented a genocide on the Palestinian people. 

Maria Mirabel and her family live in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which was ravaged by Hurricane Melissa in October of ’25, with 90,000 buildings damaged and her family’s house destroyed. With very limited financial help from outside of Cuba, like most Black Cubans on the island, Maria and her family are literally fighting hunger daily, struggling to survive in an economy that the US government has been slowly strangling. 

She has been sharing her story in the SF Bay View over the last couple of months, so that our readers can read in real time about the mass murder and human rights violations that the US government is committing, under the blockade and after tightening it. It’s easy to scroll past headlines but harder to scroll past the lives of real people who are being destroyed with our tax dollars in the US. If you are interested in financially donating to Maria’s family, you could contact blockreportradio@gmail.com. 

JR Valrey: How has life in Cuba been affected after suffering a blockade for more than six decades and now that the U.S. government has stopped all oil shipments? 

Maria Mirabel: Cuba has been under a blockade for many years, a blockade that deprives us of many benefits. But the chaos we are experiencing now in Cuba is unprecedented. Without oil, which is essential for generating electricity and transportation, we are in a very critical situation. There is no transportation or food available, both in family homes and in schools, which are currently closed for the same reason. Despite the US blockade, we also have an internal blockade imposed by both the government and the people themselves. Those with money live; those without die. We are in a continuous struggle for survival, on the verge of being exploited by one another. The prices of basic foods like rice, oil, and others are exorbitant, and a sack of charcoal costs 5,000 pesos. This is the only way we can cook because of the lack of electricity, since not everyone can afford a generator or electric plant. We have to use charcoal or firewood from dry trees, and that is how we are living on this island, almost without hope and without knowing what tomorrow will bring.

JR Valrey: What measures have people taken to adapt?

Maria Mirabel: What measures have we taken to adapt? The thing is, nobody can adapt to this way of life; it’s about surviving, not adapting.

JR Valrey: How have food prices been affected compared to this time last year?

Maria Mirabel: Cuba has been facing an extreme food price situation for over five years. With the onset of COVID-19, followed by the currency devaluation, the situation worsened significantly. As we Cubans say, money here is practically worthless. You can have a million Cuban pesos, but in the end, you can’t buy what you need or feed yourself properly. Today, with the embargo, the food situation is even more dire. We’re living through a second Special Period, but far worse than the first. Prices are sky-high: A bottle of oil costs 2,500 Cuban pesos, a small bag of rice 800 Cuban pesos, and everything is incredibly expensive, getting more so every day.

JR Valrey: How much drinking water does each family have? How quickly do you and your children use it? 

Maria Mirabel: Well, I’ll tell you straight up that we’re not used to drinking bottled water, only those with money drink purified water or bottled water sold in markets, because for everyone else it’s the water that comes through the tap, which isn’t purified and has to be boiled.

Right now, we’re not having too much trouble with the water; it’s arriving every four days. The thing is, you need to have several tanks or large containers to store it in, like a cistern.

JR Valrey: Do people in your neighborhood go hungry if they don’t receive help from outside? How do the less fortunate cope? 

Maria Mirabel: While most Cubans typically face hardship unless they receive financial assistance from abroad, the current situation, with such high prices and unemployment, is particularly dire, especially among the elderly who live on pensions and receive less than $5 a month in Cuban pesos. This barely covers a snack, let alone a meal, and the need is considerable.

It’s sad to have nothing to eat in a country where there’s no milk for children and they don’t have the right to proper nutrition. It’s sad to see how we’re slowly destroying ourselves and taking advantage of each other, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

JR Valrey: What is a typical day like for you right now? 

Maria Mirabel: A normal day is never truly normal because there’s always something missing and my head is full of worries, but I, in particular, am a little calmer when I have food for my children amidst so much chaos.

JR Valrey: How much money do you need to buy enough food for your family for a week? How much money is needed for a month’s worth of groceries?

Maria Mirabel: That explanation is a bit difficult because it costs a lot. Just with everything we’re going through and the lack of oil, a package of chicken costs 7,500, almost 20 dollars. And when you buy rice, oil and milk for the children because the government doesn’t give them any, it costs a lot if you buy most of the necessary things, but you always buy as much as your money allows.

With 200 dollars I bought 3 small packages of rice, 3 of beans, 3 of macaroni, 5 packages of 500g spaghetti, 2 one-liter bottles of oil, 3 pounds of malanga, 6 heads of garlic, and 10 small sodas, chili peppers and onions.

I wouldn’t know how to answer that because Cubans spend a lot of money, living day to day, working just to eat, because the idea of ​​living well with comforts is a distant memory.

JR Valrey is a veteran journalist who can be heard weekly on Wednesdays on 89.5FM KPOO or KPOO.com from noon to 3 p.m. His work can also be heard on www.blockreportradioworld.com. 

The post US to Cuba: Genocide by way of oil blockade appeared first on San Francisco Bay View.

Source: https://sfbayview.com/2026/02/us-to-cuba-genocide-by-way-of-oil-blockade/