Symbolic imageCIA widens Cuba operations in search of a new leadership
The CIA has expanded its operations in Cuba as Washington pushes for a change of leadership, US and European media reported on Saturday. A military operation has not been ruled out.
The Trump administration has pressed its agencies to find a serving or retired Cuban official who could be persuaded to take power, The New York Times reported. It wants a figure like Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's interim president since US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January, but US assessments found Cuba resembles Iran, with few pragmatists placed to succeed Raúl Castro. Washington has asked Havana to open its economy to US firms, buy US oil and expel Russian and Chinese intelligence officers, offering sanctions relief in return.
Sanctions reach the food chain
Jacobin reports that July sanctions on state importer GECOMEX and port operator GEMAR expose third-country food suppliers to compliance risk; over 7,000 containers are stranded after Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM suspended Cuban operations.
Havana's case at the UN
Cuba's UN envoy Ernesto Soberón Guzmán told TASS that Washington is justifying collective punishment and possible military aggression, blaming the fuel shortage on Trump's executive order of 29 January.
Chinese solar amid blackouts
Cuba is turning to Chinese solar power as fuel runs short.
Other opinions
TASS relays Havana's accusations without US rebuttal; the US left outlet Jacobin calls the food sanctions an attempt to starve Cubans, a framing absent from El País and Folha.