Waste Piles Up In Cuba, Blackouts Worsen, As Lavrov Pleads To US For ‘Brotherly Nation’

Speaking to reporters early this week, President Trump touted his tightened embargo on Cuba, pointing to moves to choke off Venezuelan oil flows and pressure Mexico to halt crude exports to the island – steps that have triggered acute fuel shortages and near total airline stoppages at Havana’s main international airport.

“Cuba is right now a failed nation, and they don’t even have jet fuel for airplanes to take off, clogging up their runway,“ Trump said aboard Air Force One. Trash is also piling up across cities in neighborhoods, as there’s literally not enough gas to power the trucks.

Trump added that his administration is engaged in discussions with Cuban officials, who are feeling the pressure. However, a recent report in Drop Site News has alleged that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is blocking those contacts while telling the president they are underway.

Below is the heart of what was reported last week in Drop Site:

When it comes to Trump’s claims of those talks, it turns out he isn’t lying. Instead, sources tell Drop Site, he’s being lied to. “He’s saying that because that’s what Marco is telling him,” said a senior Trump official, referring to an internal effort by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make Trump believe that the U.S. and Cuba are engaged in serious negotiations without ever doing so. The idea, the source said, is that in a few weeks or months, Rubio will be able to claim that the talks were futile because of Cuban intransigence. With diplomatic off-ramps being blocked, this would make Rubio’s vision of regime change the only path forward for an administration loath to reverse course on anything.

Asked about the fact that Rubio is misleading Trump about talks that aren’t going on, the State Department’s press office stood by the claim that such negotiations are indeed happening, forwarding along comment from an administration official: “As the President stated, we are talking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal. Cuba is a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela and with Mexico ceasing to send them oil.” The statement offered no evidence the talks are taking place, named no officials participating, no dates of any meetings, nor did it identify a location where the supposed talks are happening.

But it’s clear that Cuba is in a very tight spot, after US accomplished Maduro’s overthrow nearby, and as the Pentagon’s military might is now threatening Iran in similar fashion. Cuba has few allies left standing, with one big exception.

Russia is urging that the United States abandon its naval blockade on the communist-run island, stressing that more room must be given for legitimate negotiations.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez on Wednesday that Cuba is “a brotherly nation” – according to Reuters.

The Cuban FM visited Moscow Wednesday. This as blackouts and severe fuel shortages have only been compounded by the US oil emargo.

“Together with most members of the international community, we call on the United States to show common sense and responsibility and refrain from plans for a naval blockade of the Island of Freedom,” said Lavrov. “We categorically reject the unfounded accusations against Russia and Cuba and our cooperation, which allegedly pose a threat to the interests of the United States or anyone else.”

Washington has indeed been hyping Cuba as a major threat, which going all the way back the Cold War has been brought to its knees after decades of sanctions. US officials have long warned of Russian and Chinese geostrategic and military inroads into America’s backyard via Cuba. Moscow is flatly denying that this is a reality, however.

Meanwhile, the embargo of the island is unleashing another big problem for the population: “The United States-imposed fuel crisis in Cuba is also turning into a waste and health crisis, as many collection trucks have been left with empty fuel tanks, causing refuse to pile up on the streets of the capital, Havana, and other cities and towns,” Al Jazeera reports.

“Only 44 of Havana’s 106 rubbish trucks have been able to keep operating due to the fuel shortages, slowing rubbish collection, as waste piles up on Havana’s street corners, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday, citing state-run news outlet Cubadebate,” the outlet details.