(WSVN) – A parade of pro-government protesters took to the streets of Havana with a message to the United States amid an ongoing oil blockade and a maximum pressure campaign against the island by the Trump administration.
Demonstrators rode bicycles and waved Cuban flags along the city’s Malecón to express their frustration with the economic crisis that the island nation is facing.
“We came by bicycle, given the situation the country is facing in the current context, to reaffirm that we will always be present,” said a demonstrator in Spanish.
Cuba is facing a humanitarian and economic crisis amid an effective energy blockade that has exacerbated an electric grid crisis.
As Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel and other regime officials watched the march, protesters said they were against the U.S. embargo against Cuba. They said the Trump administration’s threats don’t faze them.
“Long live the Cuban people! Who’s afraid here? Who is going to surrender here?” shouted a person from an electric scooter, waving Cuban flags as they rode past the U.S. Embassy in Havana.
Since January, Cuba has not received oil imports due to an executive order by President Donald Trump that threatened tariffs on nations that provided oil to Cuba. That order came weeks after the U.S. captured then-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, effectively ending Cuba’s oil lifeline from Venezuela.
The crisis has led the Cuban government to implement strict gasoline rationing and limits on airplane refueling, causing streets across the island nation to empty.
“What’s solving the problems of the people and the country are electric vehicles due to the fuel shortage and everything that’s been going on,” said a protester.
The march came days after the United States allowed a Russian tanker to arrive at a Cuban port in Matanzas, carrying 730,000 barrels of oil. It is the first time oil had arrived in the island nation in three months, according to Cuban officials.
Russia now says it plans to send in a second oil tanker to the island. It’s unclear if the U.S. will give that shipment the green light.
According to data, Cuba relies on oil imports for 60% of its energy needs. Experts say this latest shipment from Russia should feed the island nation’s daily energy needs for nine to 10 days.
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