By David Sole
The Wall Street bankers have hated the Cuban Revolution since the July 26 Movement rebels drove out the corrupt and brutal US backed Batista dictatorship and entered Havana on January 1, 1959. The US billionaire capitalist class, through their government in Washington, have waged relentless war on the island ever since.
Broad economic sanctions were imposed against Cuba in 1960 and have continued for over 60 years. This includes penalties against third countries and corporations who do business with the island nation.
Aiming for an overthrow of the Cuban government, the CIA organized and armed counter-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a direct invasion of Cuba. First, they bombed Cuban airfields flying eight World War II era B-26 bombers on April 15, 1961. Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, then pronounced the socialist character of the revolution. A landing by the US backed forces occurred two days later at the aptly named Bay of Pigs. Within three days the 1400 invaders were defeated and taken prisoner.
Cuban intelligence documented 638 separate CIA plots to assassinate Fidel Castro over the years in addition to the brutal sanctions.
Yet the Cuban socialist society has survived all these attacks.
President Donald Trump, following the Pentagon’s successful invasion of Venezuela and capture of President Maduro and First Lady Flores on January 3, 2026, issued an Executive Order blockading Cuba from oil imports. This has created a terrible humanitarian crisis across that country. All modern societies depend on oil for transportation and production of electric power. Trump is demanding that Cuba’s communist leadership surrender and open the island up to capitalist exploitation.
This is the equivalent of an ancient tactic of warfare – the siege.
One only has to look to Homer’s Iliad to see the siege in action. The Greek armies surrounded Troy, who resisted for 10 years. Only a tricky maneuver gave the Greeks entry into the city, which they then destroyed.
In Germany in the 16th century peasant armies revolted against the landowners and the Catholic Church. The Reformation had moderate (Lutheran) and radical (Anabaptist) wings. In 1534 the city of Munster was taken over by the radicals who set up the Munster Commune declaring for economic equality for all.
Catholic and Lutheran led armies surrounded and besieged Munster. The siege lasted 16 months and ended in defeat of the Commune. It is estimated that at least 3,000 people died in the city.
In modern times the Nazi siege against Leningrad in World War II stands out. Rather than take the Soviet city in street-to-street fighting, Hitler ordered it be surrounded and starved into submission. The siege began September 8, 1941 and continued until January 18, 1944 (872 days). It is estimated that 1.5 million Soviet citizens died from a prewar population of 3.1 million. Mass graves marked by the year are in a park in wat is today known at St. Petersburg, Russia.
Since Trump’s oil blockade order against Cuba only one Russian tanker has docked to unload 730,000 barrels of oil. It has to be assumed that the US gave permission for this single delivery.
Some have asked why Russia and/or China are not challenging the inhuman siege. Neither of these powerful nations have even brought up challenging the oil blockade. This strongly indicates that the US has privately advised the two countries that the Pentagon will unequivocally stop their tankers on the high seas if they dare approach Cuban shores.
The US has about 750 military bases around the world. This includes numerous aircraft carrier strike groups prowling the seas, including the Caribbean. Russia and China have powerful militaries, but they are designed to protect their own shores. If the US has made it clear it will attack anyone bringing oil to Cuba, the Russian and Chinese leaders have been warned. Neither nation appears willing nor able to confront such a threat. Nor are they willing, at this time, to launch a worldwide political campaign.
Trump is not satisfied with killing and starving Cuba with a siege. His administration is also building up military forces in the area for direct military intervention. The phony indictment of former Cuban President Raul Castro (age 94) for defense of Cuban airspace 30 years ago, is similar to public propaganda taken before the invasion of Venezuela and capture of President Maduro.
Cuba is struggling to survive the oil blockade. The Cuban military is highly trained and organized. They, no doubt, have studied the attack on Venezuela and the attempt to behead the Iranian leadership in February, 2026. Cuban President Diaz-Canel has warned the US that any invasion by Pentagon forces will result in “a bloodbath.”
Responding to the US indictment of Raul Castro, Diaz-Canel stated: “The purported accusation against Army General Raul Castro Ruz, just announced by the US government, only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban Revolution and the unity and moral strength of its leadership.”
He continued: “Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense within its jurisdictional waters, following repeated and dangerous violations of our airspace by notorious terrorists – a fact of which the US administration at the time was alerted on more than a dozen occasions, yet it ignored the warnings and allowed those violations to continue.”
A worldwide movement of solidarity with Cuba must be mobilized to stop the military threats and the economic strangulation of this besieged socialist bastion.
