U.S. sanctions and geopolitical escalation deepen Cuba’s systemic energy crisis amid global power struggles
Original framing: “Cuba has been in Washington’s crosshairs for decades. The Iran war is raising the stakes” — The Conversation - Global
The original framing omits the historical continuity of U.S. interventions in Cuba (e.g., Operation Mongoose, Bay of Pigs), the role of corporate lobbies (e.g., sugar, pharmaceuticals) in sustaining the embargo, and the resilience of Cuba’s socialist energy model despite sanctions. It also ignores the voices of Afro-Cuban communities disproportionately affected by blackouts, as well as the expertise of Cuban engineers and scientists in decentralized energy solutions. Indigenous and Afro-descendant knowledge systems in Cuba’s energy transition are erased, despite their potential for sustainable models.
High structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
The narrative is produced by Western-centric media outlets like *The Conversation*, which often platform voices aligned with U.S. foreign policy institutions (e.g., think tanks, former diplomats) while marginalizing Cuban perspectives. The framing serves the interests of U.S. imperial power structures by naturalizing sanctions as ‘policy tools’ rather than acts of economic warfare, while obscuring the role of multinational corporations in profiting from Cuba’s isolation. This discourse reinforces a binary of ‘democracy vs. dictatorship,’ erasing the lived realities of Cubans navigating systemic constraints.
The U.S. embargo on Cuba, codified in 1960 and expanded under the Torricelli (1992) and Helms-Burton (1996) Acts, is the longest-running economic sanctions regime in modern history, designed to ‘bring about hunger, desperation, and the overthrow of government.’ Parallels exist with U.S. interventions in Iran (1953 coup), Chile (1973), and Venezuela (ongoing), where sanctions preceded regime change. Cuba’s energy grid, built in the 1970s with Soviet support, was never modernized due to U.S. restrictions, creating structural vulnerabilities exploited today.
Cuba’s energy crisis is not an accident but a designed outcome of 60 years of U.S. economic warfare, where sanctions function as a tool of regime change by weaponizing scarcity.