Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said Monday that she has been in discussions with foreign officials about efforts to supply oil to Cuba, as the island faces mounting shortages under tightened U.S. sanctions. According to Mediaite, while speaking at an event, Jayapal described ongoing conversations with diplomats from Mexico and other Latin American nations, noting that multiple countries are exploring ways to deliver fuel despite increasing pressure from Washington.
“I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places, and I know other countries in Latin America are trying to figure out how to get oil there,” she said, emphasizing her sense of urgency of the situation.
The remarks come as the Trump administration intensifies its economic restrictions on Cuba. In January, the president signed an executive order threatening tariffs against any nation that “directly or indirectly” supplies oil to the country. The move has effectively created a de facto embargo.
Jayapal, who visited Cuba last month, characterized the situation as dire. She pointed to a May 1 executive order signed by Trump that expands sanctions further, introducing penalties on foreign banks and companies that engage with Cuba and reinforcing existing restrictions on U.S. tourism.
“In January, Trump issued an executive order threatening tariffs on any countries supplying fuel to Cuba. This was this January, just a few months ago. And oil shipments from Venezuela — that’s where Cuba had been getting its oil — were halted after the U.S. operations to kidnap Nicolás Maduro. Since January, only one Russian tanker of oil has made it to Cuba, In fact, it landed just a couple of days before I landed, and one tanker has enough oil basically for 10 to 14 days of Cuba’s oil needs — so it’s a very limited amount of time,” Jayapal said.
“Now Russia has said they’re going to send another tanker,” she continued. “I was in conversations with the ambassadors from Mexico and some other places, and I know other countries in Latin America are trying to figure out how to get oil there. But it is a crisis beyond imagination. Just this past Friday on May 1, Trump signed a broad executive order that widens sanctions and allows for new penalties, similar to what we have for Iran and Russia, against foreign banks and firms that are dealing with Cuba, and it also reinforces the ban on U.S. tourism.”
“I have called these sanctions an economic bombing of the infrastructure of Cuba,” Jayapal said, claiming that “it is illegal, it is against the war — we’ve been talking about this in Iran, obviously — to bomb the infrastructure of any country. That is against international law. This is essentially doing the same thing. It is bombing the infrastructure of Cuba with economic sanctions that essentially ensure that the infrastructure collapses.”
Meanwhile, Trump has continued his firm stance toward the Cuban communist government. In March, he suggested the United States could assert sweeping control over the island. “Whether I free it, take it. I think I can do anything I want with it,” he said in remarks to Fox News’ Peter Doocy, adding that Cuba is “a very weakened nation.”