United States President Donald Trump suggested this Sunday (29) that he would allow a Russian oil tanker to arrive in Cuba this week, after threatening to apply tariffs to countries that send oil to the Caribbean island.
Over the weekend, The New York Times had reported that Washington had authorized the arrival of the ship Anatoly Kolodkin, with 730,000 barrels of crude oil, at the port of Matanzas. This Monday (30), the Russian Ministry of Transport confirmed the arrival of the tanker.
In an interview with journalists on Air Force One, the official plane of the American presidency, Trump confirmed that the ship was on its way.
“We have an oil tanker there. We don’t mind someone unloading a tanker [em Cuba]because they need to survive”, said the American president.
“If a country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem. I’d rather let it in, whether it’s Russia or anyone else, because people need heating, cooling and all the other necessary things,” Trump added.
At the end of January, Trump had announced the application of a tariff to countries that export oil to Cuba, alleging that the communist island invites “dangerous adversaries of the United States” to install “sophisticated military and intelligence bases” on its territory that directly threaten American national security.
Countries that sent the commodity to the Castro regime, such as Mexico, stopped exports due to the tax. This blockade, combined with the American veto on shipments of Venezuelan oil to Cuba since the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro on January 3, has worsened the energy crisis on the island, which has been suffering daily blackouts.
On Friday (27), Trump said that “Cuba will be next”, following the United States’ military actions in Venezuela and Iran.
