As the US and Israel continue their campaign of destruction in Iran, President Donald Trump has threatened Cuba with a ‘friendly takeover’. Christophe Ventura writes in our March edition that the US interference in Venezuela has already had repercussions in Havana. ‘From an average of 100,000 barrels per day in good years, Venezuelan oil deliveries [to Cuba] steadily declined to 32,000-35,000 barrels in 2024, 26,000-27,000 in 2025 – and then zero from January 2026, when Caracas was effectively placed under Washington’s tutelage.’ A severe fuel crisis has left millions of people without power.

This comes on the back of the extreme sanctions imposed on Cuba by the US in 2019, and the punitive tariffs that Joy Gordon documented in 2024 against any country that trades with the island nation. As Helen Yaffe wrote back in 2020, one source of funds for energy imports was Cuban medical services — these are now also strangled by US pressure.

Elsewhere, the DRC’s mineral wealth, long monopolised by China, is drawing renewed interest from the Trump administration; Moroccan agricultural workers protest harsh conditions; UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese questions why her critics won’t engage with the substance of her reports (on childhood, genocide, colonial erasure and the complicity of some companies). To dive into the stories behind this month’s news, and understand the complicated forces at play, read ‘the longer view’ each month. Our entire archive is available, online, to subscribers.