US Oil Squeeze Chokes Cuba’s Lifeline: Is the Door Open for Negotiation?

“I need to leave.” That is the stark reality facing Cuba’s tourism workers as a US-driven oil squeeze cripples the island’s economy and drains its visitor trade.

In Havana, taxi driver Rainier Hernandez now waits hours for customers beside his vintage car, Al Jazeera reported. Once ferrying tourists daily, he now gets barely two hours of paid work. “We eat and live off tourism,” he said. “Right now, it’s a horrible thing.”

Tourism once made up nearly 12% of Cuba’s GDP. Visitor numbers have collapsed from 4.8 million in 2018 to 1.6 million last year, with fresh US pressure accelerating the decline. Fuel shortages, blackouts, and flight suspensions have deepened fears, triggering cancellations and layoffs.

“Everybody’s scared,” hotel concierge Jonathan Garcia told Al Jazeera, whose workplace has cut half its staff since January.

Meanwhile, Cuba’s top diplomat in Washington, Lianys Torres Rivera, told USA Today in an interview that Havana is ready to open its economy to US involvement. “The U.S. wants to be engaged in the economic transformation in Cuba? Let’s do it,” she said.

Her comments offer the clearest indication yet of Cuba’s negotiating position amid ongoing high-level talks led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Cuba is seeking relief from key restrictions, including easing the long-standing US embargo, removing the country from the state sponsors of terrorism list, and waiving parts of the Helms-Burton Act to unlock business ties.

However, although the communist island has signalled openness to negotiation, Havana has drawn a red line on sovereignty.