February 13, 2026
As the White House threatens war against Cuba, I am reminded of the charming evenings my parents and I spent at Havana’s venerable ‘Floridita Bar, sipping a newly invented cocktail, the Margarita, with the renowned writer, Ernest Hemingway.
`Papa’ Hemingway, who then lived in Cuba, loved this island with a great passion and wrote about it often. I feel the same way. I’ve been visiting Cuba since before Castro took over and feel at home in this socialist nation, no matter how threadbare or destitute.
Cubans, whom I call ‘the aristocrats of the West Indies’, have managed to survive efforts by the mighty U.S. to starve, isolate, and attack them for the past five decades. I’ve even been twice in battle against Cuban troops in Angola, Africa. They were valiant and competent soldiers.
Few Americans or Canadians know that Havana is even older than my native New York City. Sadly, today once gorgeous, sultry Havana is falling into ruins after seven generations of crushing embargo by the United States. Cuba’s revolutionary strongman, Fidel Castro, refused to bow to U.S. pressure or take orders from Washington.
The U.S. sought to sabotage Cuba’s sugar-based economy, mounting an amazingly inept invasion in 1961. Cuba became a highly repressive communist regime, thanks to important help from the Soviet Union. Anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Florida kept up a half century effort to get Washington to continue efforts to overthrow the Castro regime.
This campaign continues today. The Trump administration dominates Florida’s Castro-hating Republicans who are the core of its electoral strength. Trump just took over Venezuela with the primary purpose of cutting off the essential oil aid Caracas was giving Havana. Cuba, out of oil, is now shutting down. Half of Cuba’s electricity is gone, so too factories, public transport, flights and military forces. Food shortages are everywhere. Cuba’s tourism business – its economic lifeline – is dying rapidly Major European, Canadian and US airlines have cancelled flights due to the growing fuel shortage.
This strangulation of Cuba is intended to paralyze the island, then provoke uprisings against the government. To its credit, Mexico is delivering emergency food aid by sea and says it plans to provide oil to besieged Cuba. But this modest aid won’t be enough to keep Cuba’s nine million people from starving.
Meanwhile, Florida’s exiled Cubans, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are gleefully watching the Communist regime flounder. Among Florida’s 400-500,000 Cuban exiles there is frantic politicking to form a government in exile or plan future waterfront developments in Havana and bring back the bad old days of prostitution and gambling. Venezuela and Cuba will return to being US colonies. Whatever Russian influence there is in the West indies will be quickly kicked out.
The Trump forces will get all those Cuban votes in Florida, thus winning one of the most important electoral states. Havana will come to look like Ft. Lauderdale, likely redeveloped the same way that the current White House plans for another annoying people, the Palestinians.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2026
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