Three months later, the result is a growing humanitarian crisis and worsening economic instability.<\/p>\n
Cubans now face daily blackouts that can last longer than 16 hours; bus stops are empty; families are turning to wood and coal for cooking; and tourism facilities have closed.<\/p>\n
The once-vaunted medical system is also teetering on the brink. Hospitals can no longer function at optimum. Dialysis, chemotherapy, and other life-saving services are being disrupted. Around 96,000 patients<\/a> are waiting in line for suspended surgeries. Water is in short supply.<\/p>\n However, African countries, with whom Cuba shares strong historical ties linked to nationalist, anti-colonial struggles, have opted for a passive and largely muted response to what the Castro communist regime has termed economic genocide.<\/p>\n In March, President Donald Trump said he expects to have \u201cthe honour of taking Cuba.\u201d He bragged<\/a> about his capacity \u201cto do anything\u201d and predicted that after 67 years of communist rule, the \u201cweakened nation\u201d would collapse under US pressure. He has also repeatedly warned that Cuba \u201cis next\u201d on his list and would turn his attention fully to the country after the war with Iran.<\/p>\n Two weeks ago, Mr Trump expanded the sanctions to include target officials, entities \u201coperating in Cuba\u2019s energy, defence, mining and financial sectors\u201d, and also those considered by the US to be \u201ccomplicit in corruption or human rights violations\u201d, a policy China described<\/a> as an infringement on Cuba\u2019s right as a state and a violation of international law.<\/p>\n Washington, through the policy, has effectively been paralysing the island, which produces less than 40 per cent of the fuel it needs to power the economy.<\/p>\n Several American presidents have imposed sanctions on Cuba, but none have been as extreme as those of the Trump administration, which aims to force a change of government and impose a pro-American government on the Island country.<\/p>\n Resistance to US action has had little practical effect, and among African countries with which the Cuban state shares strong, historical ties, it is largely non-existent.<\/p>\n Rather, African countries watch from the sidelines as the US asphyxiates Havana, without extending the support needed to keep the island from dropping to its knees.<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s history with African countries<\/p>\n Usman Ayegba, a university lecturer and expert in international relations, diplomacy, and politics, described the reluctance of African countries to stand by a key ally as both understandable and disturbing.<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s relations with Africa predate the Cold War era. The Caribbean country played a pivotal role in the continent\u2019s apartheid and liberation struggle.<\/p>\n When Cubans overthrew<\/a> the Batista government and ran US imperialism out of their Island in 1959, it ushered in a socialist government led by Fidel Castro, who was keen on supporting Africa. So, while the country faced a barrage of US sanctions, it nonetheless extended support to liberation movements in the country.<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s first major intervention came in Algeria between 1961 and 1963. Shortly after independence from France, the country became vulnerable to external pressure, particularly from neighbouring Morocco, which sought to exert control over a disputed border area.<\/p>\n During the Sand War, Fidel Castro sent military equipment, advisers, and a medical brigade to support<\/a> Algeria.<\/p>\n Havana also extended support to Congo during its liberation struggle around 1965 after a post-independence civil war backed by the West. The Castro regime supplied arms and troops to the Simba rebel forces. The Cuban mission in Congo was led by Che Guevara, a prominent guerrilla leader and revolutionary, who also gave an impassioned<\/a> speech on the \u201ctragic case of Congo\u201d at the UN General Assembly. The mission, however, was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s role in Angola changed the course of history on the continent. Its decision to support<\/a> the Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) government in 1975 during the Angolan Civil War, most decisively through its military intervention at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, helped shift the regional balance of power.<\/p>\n It contributed to Namibia\u2019s independence and accelerated the end of apartheid-era rule in Southern Africa.<\/p>\n Contribution to healthcare<\/p>\n Cuba\u2019s support extended well beyond military intervention. It made significant contributions in healthcare, education, and technical development across multiple countries.<\/p>\n In Angola, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, South Africa, and Namibia, Cuban medical teams and educators helped expand healthcare access and literacy programmes in the post-independence period and through the Cold War era. All while the US and Europe regarded Cuba as a soviet proxy.<\/p>\n Between 2010 and 2019, Cuba\u2019s intervention shifted primarily toward humanitarian and medical service exports to underserved countries, benefiting Africa immensely.<\/p>\n During the Ebola outbreak in 2014, the country deployed about 256 doctors and health professionals to Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, the epicentre of the epidemic.<\/p>\n As the activist lawyer, Femi Falana, put<\/a> it at the time, Cuba was the only country that supported Africa in the \u201cwar against Ebola without stigmatising or discriminating against them.\u201d<\/p>\n During the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, Cuba sent around 1,200 health professionals to African and Caribbean countries worst hit by the disease. Around 200 medics were deployed to South Africa, which reported<\/a> more than 4 million positive cases.<\/p>\n Medical service was also Cuba\u2019s most lucrative export. Although there were concerns about worker exploitation, the country generated substantial revenue by leasing professionals to countries where local healthcare systems struggle to fill posts.<\/p>\n The country was generating around<\/a> $11 billion each year through its \u201carmy of white coats\u201d despite being isolated by US sanctions for years.<\/p>\n Before 2019, when the US, under Mr Trump\u2019s first administration, began targeting countries that accepted Cuba\u2019s medical labour exports, Cuba had deployed around 50,000 Cuban doctors to underserved areas in 67 countries, including Ghana, Angola, Botswana, and Algeria, to fill gaps in health systems.<\/p>\n Many Nigerian students have also studied medicine in Cuba under scholarship programmes.<\/p>\n No oil supply for three months<\/p>\n Cuba also has trade relations with African countries, though on a modest scale compared with its trade with the US, Europe, and China.<\/p>\n Venezuela, whose oil industry is now being controlled by the US, was Cuba\u2019s largest oil source, followed by Mexico and Russia. However, a smaller amount came from Algeria and, to an extent, from Angola and Nigeria, which exported intermittently.<\/p>\n But all oil imports into the country ceased due to Mr Trump\u2019s order, effectively amounting to a blockade. Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel said in March that the island had not received oil from foreign suppliers for three months.<\/p>\n Russia recently supplied<\/a> 700,000 barrels of crude to Cuba, which experts say will ease the hardship in the communist country. However, the new shipment can only provide 7-10 days of supply.<\/p>\n While African countries such as Algeria and Angola have provided oil to offset low supplies from Venezuela in the past, they have yet to aid the Island under the US \u201cmarine siege.\u201d<\/p>\n Jorge Pi\u00f1\u00f3n, a former oil executive who runs a team at the University of Texas at Austin tracking Cuba\u2019s oil, points out<\/a> that Cuba\u2019s longtime African friends are not only silent but staying away.<\/p>\n Shehu Sani, a senator under the Peoples Democratic Party, opined that not just Africa, but also non-African countries, \u201cthe world\u201d stays quiet and \u201cwatches helplessly\u201d the repression of a smaller sovereign nation by a great power.<\/p>\n![\"PT](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778412430_747_PT-WHATSAPP-CHANNEL-copy.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Che](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-05-10-at-11.35.45.jpeg\")
Che Guevara\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Femi](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778412431_476_1.jpeg\")
Femi Falana<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Donald-Trump.jpg\")
President Donald Trump<\/p>\n