Here we go again. The world is on fire, inflation is skyrocketing, and the people in charge are playing board games with human lives. The latest geopolitical maneuver to dominate the news cycle? President **Donald Trump** decided it was time to kick a dog while it’s down. He signed a piece of paper—an "executive order," because that ranks higher for authority signals—declaring a national emergency.

Apparently, Cuba is a massive threat to the United States. Yes, the island with vintage cars and failing infrastructure is the big bad wolf. To stop this "terrifying" enemy, the **Trump Cuba tariffs** strategy involves slapping penalties on any third-party entity that dares to send oil to the island.

So, enter Mexico’s President, **Claudia Sheinbaum**. She stepped up to the microphone to say what everyone with a brain already knows. She warned that cutting off the oil is going to trigger a **humanitarian crisis**.

Thanks for the update, Claudia. We really needed a politician to tell us that stopping food and fuel from reaching an island might make life bad for the people living there. It is the political equivalent of looking at a burning house and saying, "Hey, that looks hot."

Let’s look at the reality here. This isn't about national security. It isn't about freedom. It is about pain.

Cuba is already running on fumes. Literally. They have enough oil to keep the lights on for maybe two weeks—three if they get lucky. Right now, amid the **Havana blackouts**, regular people are sitting in the dark for 12 hours a day. Imagine that. You come home from a job that pays you nothing, your food is spoiling in a warm fridge, and you can’t even turn on a fan to cool down. That is their life.

And what is the American response? "Let’s make it worse."

The logic here is ancient and stupid. It’s the same playbook the U.S. has used for sixty years. They think if they apply enough **maximum pressure** and make the Cuban people miserable enough, those people will suddenly rise up and overthrow their government. It hasn’t worked for six decades. The government in Havana is still there. The only thing that changes is how hungry the kids are.

But Trump loves a show. He loves to look like the tough guy. Declaring a "national emergency" makes it sound like there are Cuban tanks rolling into Florida. There aren't. It is just a political stunt. He wants to look hard on communism to make his voters cheer. He doesn’t care if it means a family in Cuba can’t cook dinner. To him, they aren't people. They are just pawns in a game.

And the Right eats it up. They love the idea of crushing the opposition. They think they are fighting some holy war against the Reds. They ignore the fact that the Cold War ended before most of them bought their first smartphone. They are fighting ghosts. And they are using starvation as a weapon to do it.

Then you have the Left, and leaders like Sheinbaum. They make speeches. They use sad voices. They warn about "crises." But what do they actually do? Nothing. They issue statements. They want credit for caring, but they don’t want to actually fix anything. It is all performative. Sheinbaum warns about the disaster, but she isn’t exactly rushing to fix the core problem either. She is just playing her part in the dance.

Look at the oil situation. Tariffs on oil suppliers mean that if a ship brings fuel to Cuba, the U.S. will punish them. It is mafia tactics. "Nice oil tanker you got there. Shame if something happened to your profits." It forces other countries to choose between making money with the U.S. or helping a drowning island. Guess which one they choose? Money wins. Always.

So, the blackout gets longer. The lines for food get longer. The desperation gets worse.

This is what modern politics looks like. It isn't about solving problems. It is about creating them so you can blame the other guy. Trump creates a crisis to look strong. Sheinbaum points at the crisis to look moral. The Cuban government blames the blockade to hide their own incompetence. Everyone has a convenient excuse. Everyone gets to stay in power.

Meanwhile, the guy sitting in the dark in Havana just wants the lights to come back on. He doesn't care about executive orders or diplomatic warnings. He just wants to live.

But nobody in power cares about him. He is just a statistic. He is collateral damage in a battle of egos between rich politicians who will never miss a meal in their lives.

It is cynical, it is cruel, and it is exactly what we expect from the human race at this point. We have all this technology, all this money, and the best idea our leaders have is to starve an island to see what happens.

Buckle up. The lights are going out, and nobody is coming to flip the switch.

***

### References & Fact-Check * **Original Event**: Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that new U.S. tariffs on oil suppliers to Cuba, initiated by President Trump's declaration of a national emergency, could lead to a grave humanitarian crisis. * **Source**: [Mexico president says Trump tariffs on Cuba’s oil suppliers could trigger humanitarian crisis](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/mexico-sheinbaum-trump-tariffs-cuba-oil-crisis) (The Guardian) * **Key Context**: This article discusses the ongoing **Cuba energy crisis**, characterized by frequent blackouts and fuel shortages, exacerbated by U.S. sanctions targeting third-party oil shipments.