The United States’ ongoing oil blockade has forced Cuba into a severe crisis. Rolling blackouts last up to 18 hours, transportation is all but paralyzed, university classes have been suspended or transferred online, and hospitals are conducting emergency operations only.
But Cuba’s current crisis has been long in the making. In a way, ever since 1991, the country has struggled to consolidate a sustainable economic model. The sudden loss of the Soviet Union’s support and the end of COMECON—the socialist bloc’s trading network—left Cuba adrift and exposed. The end of the Cold War might have led the United States to reconsider its punitive embargo. Instead, hardline exiles in the swing state of Florida and right-wing congressmen joined forces to entrench it.
Cuba’s economy stabilized somewhat by the mid-1990s with the rise of tourism and the sale of medical services abroad. But the so-called “Special Period” of the 1990s also saw the sharpening of social stratification and racial inequality. When Hugo Chávez was elected in Venezuela in 1998, his support eased Cuba’s economic woes significantly, until falling commodity prices and political conflict within Venezuela in the late 2010s diminished its impact.
Barack Obama’s reelection in 2012 seemed to signal a new period. In 2014, Obama and Raúl Castro jointly announced the restoration of diplomatic relations, and in 2016 Obama undertook the first U.S. presidential visit to the island in nearly a century. Obama’s rapprochement coincided with Castro’s efforts to implement economic and, to a much lesser extent, political reforms on the island. Tourism and remittances surged, and small, privately owned businesses proliferated. But ultimately, it was only a brief respite before retrenchment on both sides.
Donald Trump’s 2016 election led to the rollback of nearly all Obama’s engagement policies. Meanwhile, Castro’s widely anticipated reforms were not as extensive as many had hoped. One significant change, however, was the elimination of Cuba’s longstanding exit visa requirement in 2013. When Nicaragua lifted entry visa requirements for Cubans in 2021, the architecture for mass emigration fell into place: Cubans could fly to Nicaragua then travel overland to the southern U.S. border.
They did just that, in droves. After COVID obliterated tourism and Cuba’s clumsy currency unification triggered spiraling inflation, hundreds of thousands left the islands. From 2021 to 2023, perhaps 10 percent of Cuba’s population emigrated, more than half to the United States, with others heading to Latin America and Spain. Mass protests in July 2021 signaled how frustrated many Cubans had become with the hardships of everyday life. Trump’s recent oil blockade therefore caught Cuba at its most vulnerable point in decades.
Over the years, NACLA has covered these developments. Our editors revisited decades of coverage and curated this selection of articles to help readers understand how Cuba’s current crisis has been years in the making, and the roles the United States and Latin American countries have played in shaping it.
Six Decades of U.S. War: Sabotage, Sanctions, and Secret Programs
‘Chaos and Instability’: Human Rights and U.S. Policy Goals in Cuba
Why USAID’s Cuban Twitter Program was Secret
The Cost of Covert Operations in Cuba
Ending the U.S. Embargo on Cuba at the Grassroots
On Sovereignties and Solidarities
Hurricane Ian Highlights the Devastating Effects of the U.S. Blockade on Cuba
Cuba on the Global Stage
‘The South Also Exists,’ as the Third World Once Did
From ALBA to CELAC: Toward ‘Another Integration’?
A Ship Adrift: Cuba After the Pink Tide
Hasta Siempre, OSPAAAL!
The Obama “Thaw”
Making-Up Is Hard to Do: Obama’s ‘New Approach’ to Cuba
What Obama’s New Cuba Policy Means for the Rest of the Americas
Change Through Empowerment: A Half-Century of Cuba-U.S. Relations
NACLA Web Series: Obama in Cuba and Argentina
The 11 de Julio Protests and Aftermath
NACLA Web Series: The J-11 Protests in Cuba
Three Years After Cuba’s 11J, Discontent and Persecution Continue
Changes and Continuities in the Diaspora
The Myth of the Miami Monolith
Finally, Again: Miami before Trump and after Castro
Meeting Cubans 4 Trump
Book Talk on Cuban Immigration Gets Heated in Miami
A Changing Society?
The Resurgence of Racism in Cuba
The Rise of Gay Tolerance in Cuba: The Case of the UN Vote
Challenging Racism in Revolutionary “Raceless” Cuba (Audio)
NACLA Web Series: Cuba’s Constitutional Reform
Religious Conservatism is Shaping the Civil Liberties Debate in Cuba
Cuba’s New Family Code is a Window into the Political Ecosystem
Additional Resources
Related NACLA Coverage
NACLA Report Issues on Cuba
