No fuel, no tourists, no cash – this was the week the Cuban crisis got real

Diplomats in Havana are preparing for an alternative Trump tactic: the country being starved until people take to the streets and the US can step in Among the verdant gardens of Havana’s diplomatic quarter, Siboney, ambassadors from countries traditionally allied to the United States are expressing increasing frustration with Washington’s attempt to unseat Cuba’s government, while simultaneously drawing up plans to draw down their missions. Cuba is in crisis. Already reeling from a four-year economic slump, worsened by hyper-inflation and the migration of nearly 20% of the population, the 67-year-old communist government is at its weakest. After Washington’s successful military operation against Cuba’s ally Venezuela at the beginning of January, the US administration is actively seeking regime change. Continue reading...

By Ruaridh Nicoll in Havana