Posted originally on Mar 18, 2026 by Martin Armstrong |  

What we are witnessing in Cuba right now is the same failed policy recycled once again, dressed up under a different administration, with the same predictable outcome. The power grid collapsed, millions were left in the dark, food supply chains broke down, and the government blamed the United States while Washington pretended this was somehow a strategy for freedom. I have written extensively about sanctions in my reports, especially regarding Cuba, and the historical record is clear. Sanctions do not topple regimes, rather, they punish the people and strengthen the government.

Cuba’s national grid has collapsed again, leaving the entire island without power, and this is directly tied to the U.S. oil blockade. The United States has effectively cut off fuel supplies by seizing shipments and pressuring other nations not to sell oil to Cuba. No fuel, no electricity, no economy. Hospitals struggle, the food that remains spoils, transportation halts, and the population is pushed into desperation. This is exactly what sanctions are designed to do, collapse the economy from the outside.

Cuba has not received meaningful fuel shipments in months, and outages have stretched beyond 12 hours a day before culminating in total blackout events. The country relies heavily on imported oil, historically from Venezuela, and once that supply was cut, the entire system began to fail. This is what happens when you deliberately choke off energy to an island nation with aging infrastructure.

I have said many times that sanctions are the modern form of siege warfare. In ancient times, you surrounded a city and starved it. Today, you cut off energy, block trade, and restrict access to capital. The outcome is identical. The population suffers first, not the leadership. In fact, sanctions often strengthen the regime because they provide a convenient external enemy to blame. The government tightens control, suppresses dissent, and survives while the people pay the price. We saw this in Cuba after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We saw it in Iraq during the 1990s. We have seen it repeatedly, and yet policymakers continue to act as if this time will be different.

The economic damage extends far beyond electricity. The fuel shortage has crippled agriculture, disrupted water systems, and undermined food distribution. Garbage collection stops, public transport collapses, and businesses shut down because they cannot operate without power. This is systemic economic destruction and the civilians are the real victims.

Sanctions allow governments to appear strong without committing to direct military action. They shift the burden of conflict onto civilians while avoiding the immediate costs of war. But make no mistake, economically this is war. It is simply war by other means. You cannot force regime change by collapsing an economy from the outside. All you do is create human suffering and entrench the very system you claim to oppose.

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What makes this even more dangerous is the rhetoric now coming directly from the White House. President Trump has openly stated that the United States may soon have “the honor of taking Cuba” and even declared, “I can do anything I want” when referring to the island. He has also floated the idea of a “friendly takeover” while describing Cuba as a failing nation that is on the brink of collapse. This is regime change language, and it comes at the exact moment the country’s power grid has collapsed due to a U.S.-enforced oil blockade.

They always sell it as helping the people, but the reality is that cutting off oil shipments, threatening tariffs on any nation that supplies fuel, and collapsing an entire energy grid is nothing short of siege warfare.