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I was able to buy this bottle of pretty good rum in Mexico City because Mexico doesn’t have a stupid embargo on Cuban rum and cigars.
A small but influential group of Cuban immigrants are keeping us from having a rational relationship with Cuba. This guy, who’s clearly coked out, is leading the charge:
During a press conference, Marco Rubio was unusually energized, restless, with rapid speech, visible agitation, dilated pupils, excessive sweating, jaw tension, frequent sniffing, and an intense emotional presentation reflected in rigid posture and exaggerated gestures. ❄️⛷️☃️
— Anonymous (@youranoncentral.bsky.social)2025-12-21T22:37:37.622Z
If you think this is an exaggeration, watch the video. It’s pretty obvious that he did a couple of lines before the press conference.
With the demise of their Russian benefactors, Cuba survives because of the deals they cut with Latin American countries. Mexico is a relatively rich country and they import a bunch of Cuban doctors and other medical professionals to staff the hospitals that President Claudia Sheinbaum opens every weekend. In return, Mexico and other oil-rich countries send them the oil they need to generate power.
Mexico has sent two ships carrying 80,000 barrels of petroleum to Cuba to help alleviate the country’s energy crisis over the Christmas period, President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed on Monday.
“We are doing this within a legal framework as a sovereign nation,” Sheibaum said at her Monday morning press conference.
Cuba has been experiencing an energy crisis for around three years, with regular power outages of 20 hours or longer in several regions and frequent breakdowns at its aging power plants.
The five total blackouts as well as multiple partial ones in the last years have had a severe knock-on effect on the national economy. Cuba does not have the foreign currency needed to purchase the fuel required for its generating units. In addition, the latest U.S. military pressure on its main oil provider, Venezuela, has increased doubts about whether its neighbor will be able to continue supplying fuel.
Claudia went through a litany of all the previous Mexican Presidents who had sent oil to Cuba as part of her justification for Mexico’s exports. And I’d have to go through a couple of million of the 22 million residents of Mexico City to find one who would want to deny Cubans electricity on Christmas.
Speaking of Venezuela, preventing Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba is part of the Trump Administration strategy:
Cuban officials have denounced the US seizure of the Skipper oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday [Dec 13], calling it an “act of piracy and maritime terrorism” as well as a “serious violation of international law” that hurts the Caribbean island nation and its people.
“This action is part of the US escalation aimed at hampering Venezuela’s legitimate right to freely use and trade its natural resources with other nations, including the supplies of hydrocarbons to Cuba,” the Cuban foreign ministry statement said.
[…]
About 80% of Venezuela’s oil exports, or 663,000 to 746,000 barrels daily, goes to China, according to estimates. But Cuba has long relied on Venezuelan oil exports in return for medical expertise, sports instructors and security personnel who surround the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro – and are considered loyal and effective in providing personal protection.
I’m guessing the Cubans who end up in Mexico working in Mexican health care are better off than the ones in Venezuela.
There are a number of reasons that we have a big Navy presence off the shores of Venezuela, and for the unlawful seizure of Venezuelan ships, but our 60+ year grudge against Cuba is one of them.
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