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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Owen Jones

There are no missiles raining down on Havana. But what I saw there was still warfare

An activist waves a Cuban flag on board the vessel Maguro as it arrives in Havana from Mexico with humanitarian aid, 24 March 2026.
An activist waves a Cuban flag on board the vessel Maguro as it arrives in Havana from Mexico with humanitarian aid, 24 March 2026. Photograph: Yuri Cortéz/AFP/Getty Images

The US has become a power that knows only how to destroy. In the Ramón González Coro maternity hospital in Havana, Cuba, I saw what that looks like in human terms.

Maria lies on a hospital bed, wrapped in a dark blue blanket, two friends at her side. She is 50, with terminal cervical cancer, and nothing but praise for her doctors. But she is also a victim of a decades-long US siege, drastically intensified by Donald Trump’s decision earlier this year to threaten tariffs against countries that deliver fuel to Cuba. The result has been no fuel imports for three months, meaning the island is running out of diesel and fuel reserves. The electricity grid is collapsing and life is grinding to a halt.

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