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Amidst the island’s oil blockade, the US is criticizing Cuba’s communist leadership for ‘standing in the way’ of aid.
The United States has offered $100 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba unless the island’s communist government agrees to “necessary reforms”.
The amount was publicly announced in a words from the US State Department on Wednesday, although President Donald Trump’s administration emphasized that it had previously provided this information privately.
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But the $100m comes with strings attached: the Cuban government’s implementation of reforms approved by Trump.
“Today, the State Department is publicly reiterating the United States’ generous commitment to provide an additional $100 million in aid to the Cuban people,” he said.
“The decision is in the hands of the Cuban government to accept our help or refuse life-saving assistance and in the end they will answer to the Cuban people for standing in the most effective way.”
The statement marks the latest chapter in an ongoing coercive campaign to undermine the communist leadership in Cuba.
Since the Cold War conflict in the 1960s, the US has imposed a comprehensive trade embargo on the Caribbean island, in part due to the Cuban Revolution.
It has been the longest-running trade embargo in modern history, and the US justified its continuation by citing systematic repression under Cuba’s communist government.
But critics have blamed the ban on the trade as worsening the island’s population.
The crisis came to a head in January, when Trump impeached Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a close ally of Cuba.
In the following weeks, Trump cut off Venezuelan oil and Cuban oil. He then threatened economic sanctions against any country that supplied oil to Cuba, and imposed an oil embargo on the island.
Since then, only one Russian oil tanker has reached Cuba in late March. That month alone, the island had two blackouts on all the islands.
Cuba relies heavily on imported oil to power its aging electricity system. Only 40 percent of its oil is produced domestically, according to the International Energy Agency.
The United Nations warned earlier this year that Cuba was facing the possibility of a “collapse” of population, with public transport suspended, food prices rising and public services such as hospitals struggling to keep electricity on.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly threatened to change his opinion on Cuba after the US-Israel war in Iran, saying that the island is “next” on the list of countries that want to change the government.
“Once we achieve historic change in Venezuela, we look forward to the next big change in Cuba soon,” Trump told Latin American leaders at a March summit.
“Cuba is in its last period of life as it was. It will have a new life, but it is in its last period of life as it is.”
Earlier this month, the US President issued a new directive penalties against the Cuban government, accusing the island of presenting “an unusual and extraordinary threat to US national security and foreign policy”.
Media reports have also indicated that the Trump administration has increased its patrols around Cuba, possibly in preparation for a military buildup in the Caribbean.
In a statement on Wednesday, the State Department criticized the communist system because it “only served to enrich the elite and condemn the Cuban people to be poor”.
It made no mention of the US role in the humanitarian crisis on the island but instead described the Cuban government as an obstacle to providing much-needed aid.
“The administration is refusing to allow the United States to provide this assistance to the people of Cuba, who are in need of assistance because of the failure of the corrupt government of Cuba,” the State Department wrote.
It also said that, if Cuba accepts its demands, the 100 million dollars will be provided through the Catholic Church and “other reliable aid agencies”, and not through the island’s government.
