Trump says he doesn’t mind Cuba receiving Russian oil: “They have to survive”

Washington.- U.S. President Donald Trump stated this Sunday that he doesn’t care if Cuba receives crude oil from a Russian tanker located near the island: «They have to survive! (…) I have no problem», he assured.

In statements to reporters aboard the presidential plane this Sunday, Trump dismissed that the arrival of crude oil to Cuba would have any impact on the current situation of the island and assured that the Caribbean government is “finished”. “I don’t mind (…) they have a bad regime, they have bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not an oil tanker arrives, that doesn’t matter,” the president indicated.

Trump also added that he “prefers” that a break be given to the energy blockade imposed by his own Government on Cuba: “people need heating and air conditioning and all the other things one requires”.

Trump speaks after news about Russian oil tanker to Cuba

The president’s statements come shortly after it was revealed, through a leak to The New York Times, that the U.S. will allow a Russian oil tanker to enter Cuba. The tanker is currently less than 24 kilometers from the island and is expected to enter Cuban waters on Sunday afternoon, touching land on Tuesday, according to the newspaper.

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The vessel, Anatoly Kolodkin, flying the Russian flag, is a tanker sanctioned by both the U.S. and the European Union (EU).
The arrival of this vessel will help alleviate the energy crisis Cuba is going through, deepened by the energy blockade imposed by Trump on the island after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in January. Russia assured a few weeks ago that it was studying sending crude oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons, despite the fact that this decision posed a challenge to Washington.

Trump signed an executive order on January 29th that threatened tariffs on anyone who supplied oil to Cuba.

The U.S. has pressured Havana since January by cutting off its imported oil flow with the aim that the Cuban government sit down to negotiate and undertake reforms, primarily economic ones, following in the footsteps of Venezuela.

Cuba needs about 100,000 barrels daily to meet its energy needs, of which about 40,000 come from its national production. The inability to cover the rest of the demand has resulted in prolonged daily blackouts and the almost total paralysis of the economy.

The Russian oil tanker is near Cuba and is expected to arrive on Tuesday

The Russian oil tanker with more than 700,000 barrels of crude oil is a few kilometers from the eastern coast of Cuba and could arrive on Tuesday morning at a port on the island, which is mired in a serious energy crisis amid the siege of the US. The tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was located at 9:30 PM local time about thirty kilometers off the eastern coast of Cuba, near the town of Banes, according to the MarineTraffic page. This same source indicates that the ship, flying the Russian flag and sanctioned by both the U.S. and the European Union, will arrive at the port of Matanzas (about 100 kilometers east of Havana) at 6 a.m. (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday. The arrival of this vessel at the country’s main oil port will bring some relief to the energy crisis Cuba is experiencing, exacerbated by the energy blockade imposed by Donald Trump after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in January. “Russia once again fulfills the commitment of material aid to Cuba. Fuel is hours away from arriving at a Cuban port,” stated the state-run channel Canal Caribe this Sunday. Russia assured a few weeks ago that it was studying sending crude oil to Cuba for humanitarian reasons.