Cuba has reached a breaking point that even its crisis-hardened leadership cannot ignore. It is running out of fuel amid US pressure, having last received oil on January 9 from Mexico. This has prompted airlines such as Air Canada to cancel all flights to Cuba, hitting the tourism lifeline that accounts for most of the island’s foreign currency.

Russia is preparing to ship oil to Cuba under the guise of “humanitarian aid” — brazenly defying President Trump’s warning that countries propping up the communist regime could be hit with punishing US tariffs.

If the regime holds firm, Mr Rubio will come under enormous pressure to adopt a more aggressive stance. But that could backfire. He could easily end up as the public face of an induced humanitarian crisis, along with another wave of Cuban “boat people” crossing the 140km (90 miles) of water to the coast of Florida.

Russia is preparing to send crude oil and fuel cargoes to Cuba in the near future, Izvestia newspaper said on Thursday, citing the Russian embassy in Cuba.

Cuba's president is offering to hold talks with the U.S. without preconditions, even as both nations exchange warnings.

The longstanding alliance between Cuba and Mexico is under mounting pressure from the United States, forcing President Claudia Sheinbaum into a precarious balancing act.

Canada’s largest airline has said it is suspending flights to Cuba due to a shortage of aviation fuel on the island – a move that comes amid a US orchestrated squeeze on the country’s oil supply that has also forced Havana to ration health,

As conditions in Cuba worsen, a University of Guelph student with family on the island worries for their safety and wellbeing. A U.S. blockade on oil shipments from Venezuela has caused daily power outages and has exacerbated a shortage of food and medicine that the country has been dealing for some time.