Multiple federal agencies announced on Wednesday that they had seized 90 shipments of fuel illicitly intended to be sent from the United States to a sanctioned corporate entity in Cuba.
The shipments, which reportedly mostly contained diesel fuel, were reportedly valued at $2.8 million and expected to be received by the Cuban energy corporation ENETEC S.A., which the U.S. government sanctioned due to its role in funding the illegitimate communist regime in control of that country. The federal agencies stated that the shipments seized were preparing to depart from Florida and Texas.
The seizure reveals that American authorities believe that the Cuban regime, desperate for petroleum products, is apparently seeking them in the United States despite the long-established alleged “embargo” limiting commercial activity with the Castro family dynasty. Cuba has been experiencing severe fuel shortages this year following the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January, who for years provided free or heavily discounted fuel to Cuba in exchange for political and military support.
Cuba especially needs access to diesel and other petroleum products because its dilapidated power grid cannot sustain the nation’s electricity demands. As a result of over half a century of socialist mismanagement, Cuba barely maintains a power grid and what is left of it routinely fails; the wealthy, tourists, and communist elites became accustomed to accessing electricity through private generators. Without fuel for those generators, the blackouts affect luxury hotels and other properties frequented by foreigners. This year, the power grid regularly collapsed, doing so five times in the month of August alone.
According to a press release published on Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday, multiple agencies including Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “developed information indicating that the Cuban government used ENETEC S.A. to receive fuel illegally exported from the United States” that led them to act to seize the shipments.
“A total of 71 shipments containing approximately 496,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel at Port Everglades were seized and 19 additional shipments containing approximately 119,000 gallons at the Port of Houston are currently being detained,” ICE shared.
Special Agent in Charge Jose R. Figueroa with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, one of the participating agencies, said in a statement that the seizures “underscores HSI Miami’s commitment to stopping fuel and other goods from the United States from being illegally exported to Cuba through sanctioned entities or deceptive commercial networks” and authorities would continue to monitor and intercept such activity.
The agencies also published video of the seized shipments in Florida, a large number of gas tankers lined up for inspection on land after being taken into custody.
The independent outlet Cubanet reported that authorities have filed a case implicating ENETEC S.A., a Cuban company sanctioned on July 13 for its role in supplying the Castro regime. It is considered a Cuban state enterprise, which Cubanet described as being “dedicated to the import, export, and commercialization of combustibles.”
While shipments directly to Cuban state companies run afoul of sanctions, Cubanet observed that the “Cuban private sector,” which does not practically exist as the country is a repressive communist autocracy, has in fact sought the import of American petroleum products following the collapse of its once-reliable Venezuelan supply. Those shipments reportedly avoid “embargo” scrutiny through a loophole in the policy in which the United States does not prevent business to “support the Cuban people.”
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez appeared to respond to the seizure in a post on social media on Thursday, declaring that the American government “lacks practical and moral authority to decide what is legal under international law and free commerce laws.”
“Its measures are not just directed illegally towards Cuba, but towards the rest of the international community,” Rodríguez declared. This statement is false, any other country can – and many countries, including European allies of the United States – do engage in commerce with Cuba. To the extent they limit this, it is a response to the Cuba’s deplorable economic status and its lack of respect for human rights. A notable example of this is the massive Spanish hotel corporation Melía, which maintained dozens of properties in Cuba for decades, but shut down its operations there this year in response to the unsustainable economic climate on the island.
Rodríguez’s rant went on to declare that America “also does not have the right to impose a naval blockade nor an energy blockade.”
The government of President Donald Trump has regularly dismissed the Cuban regime’s accusations that its energy woes have anything to do with America or the “embargo.” On May 20, after announcing a series of new sanctions on the Cuban regime in response to its egregious human rights abuses, Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered an address in which he explained that electricity struggles in Cuba were unrelated to any American policy.
“The reason you are forced to survive 22 hours a day without electricity is not due to an oil ‘blockade’ by the U.S.,” he clarified. “As you know, better than anyone, you have been suffering from blackouts for years. The real reason you don’t have electricity, fuel or food is because those who control your country have plundered billions of dollars, but nothing has been used to help the people.”