Reuters reports that US President Donald Trump has intensified his rhetoric against Cuba during a White House interview with its US National Affairs Correspondent, Daniel Trotta:
Trump: “You know all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba… I do believe I’ll have the honor, of having the honor, of taking Cuba.“
Daniel Trotta of Reuters interview with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, Washington DC – 16th March 2026
Trotta: “Taking Cuba“
Trump: “Taking Cuba in some form. I think it’s a big honor. Taking Cuba in some form. Ya. Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it. Take it. I think I can do anything I want with it…“
In January 2026 Trump, having removed President Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela and in February 2026 having joined Israel in attacking Iran, Trump has openly mused that Cuba would be “next”.
Some analyst suggest the Trump administration may have been “played” by Israel’s Netanyahu to join Israel in launching a large-scale military campaign against Iran on 28th February 2026. Four weeks on it appears as if the Trump administration is realising the conflict is much more complex than initially promised. What this means is the situation in Cuba is currently getting drowned out by reportage on the US Israel war in Iran.
Trump’s threatening statements on Cuba come as Cuba and the US have opened talks aimed at improving their largely adverse relations, which has reached one of their most contentious moments in the 67 years since Fidel Castro overthrew what had been a close US ally in 1959.
Over the years William has made multiple visits to Cuba and loves that island and its people.
At BajanThings we try to stay clear from making political statements. Sometimes compassion forces one to stand up. The ongoing US Cuban embargo and US President Donald Trump’s escalated rhetoric against Cuba is one of those occasions. What’s more, this is happening in Barbados’ own back-yard.
Barbados is a multi-racial, multi-religious society. Cuba, which is just 90 miles off the US coast, appears unable to exist peacefully in Washington’s eyes because its brand of government differs from the idealised version of democracy that the US believes in.
The hypocrisy is the US turns a blind eye to one-party states like Singapore and most of the Middle-Eastern states that are resilient autocracies, often blurring the lines between authoritarian forms of government and hereditary monarchies.
The added fact is that in the past Cuba, during the cold war was aligned with the Soviet Union, which has remained a stumbling block in Washington’s eyes. And now, Russia’s ally China, is taking up some of the slack vacated by USSR now Russia.
Below is a message that was sent to William from a friend in Cuba.
Having fact checked the message it contains real documented harms caused by the US Cuban embargo — these are not invented.
The message is one-sided. This is to be fully expected from a Cuban national writing from real lived experience within Cuba, experiencing first-hand the impact of the US economic blockade of Cuba.
BBC Verify reporting indicates that the US continues to enforce a strict, long-standing economic embargo on Cuba, that is designed to exert “maximum pressure” for regime change. Recent policies, particularly under Donald Trump’s administration, have tightened restrictions on tourism, banking, and energy, exacerbating Cuba’s economic crises.
The UN General Assembly has repeatedly highlighted how the US blockade of Cuba has impacted Cuba’s ability to obtain basic medicine and food.
UN medical experts have documented that the embargo has contributed to a significant rise in suffering in Cuba, with patients going without essential drugs and doctors performing procedures without adequate medicines or equipment.
The claim about five COVID vaccines is accurate. Cuba developed five COVID-19 vaccine candidates — Soberana 1, Soberana 2, Soberana Plus, Abdala, and Mambisa.
Regarding fuel disruption, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has publicly criticised US measures as a “fuel blockade” with the potential to affect hospitals, water supply systems, and food security.
In the wake of the US detaining Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the crisis in Cuba has got even worse. Under significant US pressure, Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodríguez, stopped sending oil to Cuba altogether.
Oil imports from Mexico, which had increased in 2025 as Venezuelan imports declined, were also halted after President Trump issued an executive order imposing tariffs on countries that supply Cuba with oil.
For almost a year and a half now, Cubans have got used to having power for only a few hours per day. In March 2026 Cuba’s fragile power GRID has collapsed multiple times, leaving the country in darkness with no electricity.
The US induced energy crisis in Cuba is causing significant damage to an already struggling economy.
Cuba’s economic difficulties date back to the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the subsidies it had long provided to the island ended.
It is also important to recognise that Cuba’s economic challenges are influenced not only by external pressures such as the embargo, but also by domestic policy choices and structural inefficiencies within the island’s state-run economic system – issues that are not explored here.
Below is a copy of the message sent to William from one of his friends in Cuba:
OPEN LETTER TO THE WORLD: FROM CUBA, FROM AN ORDINARY WOMAN WHO DENOUNCES THE CRIME OTHERS REFUSE TO SEE…
To all of humanity, to the mothers of the world, to Doctors Without Borders, to journalists with dignity, to the governments that still believe in justice:
My name is like millions of others. I don’t have a well-known surname or hold an important position. I am an ordinary Cuban woman. A daughter, a sister, a patriot. And I write this with a broken heart and trembling hands, because what my people are experiencing today is not a crisis.
It is a slow, calculated, coldly executed murder, orchestrated from Washington.
And the world looks the other way.
I DENOUNCE THE STORY OF MY GRANDPARENTS:
I denounce the fact that in Cuba, elderly people are dying prematurely because the blockade prevents the arrival of medications for heart conditions, high blood pressure, and diabetes. This isn’t a lack of resources. It’s a deliberate prohibition. Companies that want to sell to Cuba are fined, persecuted, and threatened. Their governments remain silent. And meanwhile, a Cuban grandparent clutches their chest and waits. Death doesn’t give warning. The blockade does.
I DENOUNCE THE STORY OF MY CHILDREN:
I denounce the fact that incubators in Cuba have had to be shut down due to a lack of fuel. That newborns are fighting for their lives while the United States government decides which countries can sell us oil and which cannot. That Cuban mothers have seen their children’s lives endangered because an order signed in a Washington office is worth more than the cry of a baby 90 miles from their shores.
Where is the international community?
Where are the organizations that so vehemently defend children?
Do Cuban children not deserve to live?
DENOUNCEMENT OF INTENTIONAL HUNGER:
I denounce the blockade as programmed hunger. It’s not that there’s a lack of food for no reason. It’s that we’re prevented from buying it. It’s that ships carrying food are harassed. It’s that bank transactions are blocked. It’s that companies that sell us grain, chicken and milk are sanctioned.
Hunger in Cuba is not an accident. It’s a state policy of the United States government, refined over 60 years, updated by each administration, intensified by Donald Trump, and viciously implemented by Marco Rubio.
They call this “economic pressure.”
I call it terrorism through hunger.
I DENOUNCE THE SITUATION ON BEHALF OF MY DOCTORS:
I denounce the fact that our doctors, the same ones who saved lives during the pandemic while the entire world collapsed, now lack syringes, anesthesia, and X-ray equipment. Not because we don’t know how to produce them. Not because we lack talent. But because the blockade prevents us from accessing supplies, spare parts, and technology.
Our scientists created five vaccines against COVID-19. Five. Without any help. Against all odds. Against the blockade and lies. And yet, the empire punishes us for having achieved this.
TO THE WORLD I SAY:
- Cuba is not asking for handouts.
- Cuba is not asking for soldiers.
- Cuba is not asking for your love.
- Cuba is asking for justice. Nothing more. Nothing less.
- I ask you to stop normalizing the suffering of my people.
- I ask you to call the blockade by its name: CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY.
- I ask you not to be deceived by the tale of “dialogue” and “democracy” while they tighten the noose around our necks.
- We don’t want charity. We want to be LEFT TO LIVE.
TO THE COMPLICIT GOVERNMENTS THAT REMAIN SILENT I SAY:
- History will hold you accountable.
- To the media that lies: The truth always finds cracks.
- To the executioners who sign sanctions: The Cuban people do not forget and do not forgive.
- To those who still have humanity in their hearts: Look at Cuba. Look at what they are doing to it. And ask yourselves: Which side of history do I want to be on?
IF THIS MOVED YOU, SHARE IT.
From this small island, with a giant people, an ordinary Cuban woman who refuses to surrender says: I don’t care if:
- You have 10 friends or 10,000 followers.
- Your wall is public or private.
- You never share anything.
This is different. This isn’t:
- A sunset photo.
- Celebrity gossip.
- Just another opinion.
This is a SHOUT. And shouts aren’t kept to themselves. They are HEARD. They are REPEATED. They BECOME A CROWD.
Today I’m not asking for a “like.”
I’m asking you to use your thumbs for something bigger than scrolling.
SHARE.
So the world knows that there isn’t a crisis in Cuba.
There is a CRIME.
So mothers in other countries know that here there are babies struggling in incubators turned off by the US blockade.
So grandparents in other lands know that here there are elderly people dying waiting for medicine that Washington won’t let in.
So that complicit governments feel shame.
So that lying media outlets have no escape.
So that the executioners know that WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.
One person sharing this doesn’t change the world. Thousands, millions, DO.
Don’t keep this text to yourself.
Don’t be complicit in the silence.
I URGE YOU TO SHARE THIS DENUNCIATION.
Message sent to William Burton from a friend in Cuba. Her name has been withheld to protect her and her family.
We urge you you to research the impact of the US embargo on Cuba, and to fact check what is actually going on, using independent sources.
Barbados’ support for Cuba goes back to 1975 and the launch of Operation Carlota. Between 7th November 1975 and 17th December 1975 Barbados allowed Cuba to commence their support of the MPLA in Angola. Barbados paid the price as Washington, using financial bullying tactics – much like what the US now are using against Cuba – forced Errol Barrow’s government to withdraw Cubana de Aviació’s landing rights for their flights to Africa. This did not stop Cuba’s support for Angola. They found a way to continue their supply flights from Havana, Cuba to Luanda, Angola by fluing instead from Holguin, Cuba to Luanda, Angola.
During COVID, Cuba came to to Barbados’ rescue, staffing the 200-plus bed Harrison’s Point Isolation Facility at North Point with Cuban doctors and nurses. This re-purposed facility, in an earlier life served as a secret US Naval submarine listening post.
Trump’s escalated rhetoric against Cuba, his efforts to blockage Cuba and starve the nation is just another example of his global gangsterism – which is happening in Barbados’ back yard. Bajans should denounce it.
Trump’s US blockage of Cuba is tantamount to the US applying to Cuba the “scorched earth” tactics that Bashar al-Assad, heavily supported by Russian airpower applied in Aleppo, Homs, Ghouta, and Idlib – to systematically destroy rebel-held areas and infrastructure, where the rest of the world looked the other way. Especially when chemical weapons – primarily chlorine gas and sarin – were used.
Cuba is a friend. The impact of the US Cuba economic embargo is real. It’s happening in Barbados’ backyard. Lets not look the other way.
