joining us right now is Havana based journalist Liz Oliva Fernandez with the U.S.

based media outlet, Belly of the Beast, to talk about the current situation in Cuba as it

faces an oil blockade. Liz, thank you so much for joining the program.

It's a pleasure for me being here. Thank you for the invitation.

Your pleasure.

Liz, obviously Cuba has been under the longest economic blockade in human history.

But more recently, since the U.S. overthrowing and kidnapping of Maduro in Venezuela,

Cuba has found itself in an even more precarious position.

What can you tell us about what Cuba is facing right now and what are conditions currently like for the Cuban people?

Yeah, the first things that I need to establish is like some petrol, some fuel that Cuba used is coming from, used to come from Venezuela.

So the problem is started even before they abducted the Venezuelan president, Nicholas Maduro,

because on December they established an oil blockade to Venezuela.

That stopped to Venezuela to send oil, whatever part of the war, and Cuba was affected

to.

So Cuba doesn't receive any oil shipment since December.

And then on January, President Donald Trump decided to establish a oil blockade in Cuba,

arguing that Cuba is a threat to the national security of the United States,

what is like socialized.

And since then, we have been facing a lot of blackouts.

It's better now because the government, one of the measures that they took was trying to cut

the public transportation, trying to cut different services that are not essential in the country

in order to have more electricity to give it to the people.

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