Senate blocks bid to limit Trump’s power to attack Cuba

A Democratic-led effort to limit US President Donald Trump’s authority to use military force against Cuba without congressional authorization has failed in the Senate.

The Republican-majority Senate’s vote on the measure on Tuesday narrowly dismissed it as out of order in a 51-47 tally on grounds that there are no active hostilities with Cuba.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who introduced the war powers resolution in March, said it was needed as Trump’s blockade of the island had caused “humanitarian crises across Cuba,” including disruptions to medical care, shortages of clean water and rising food prices.

Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in February, tightening the decades-old US embargo by threatening sanctions against countries and companies that ship crude to the island. He has repeatedly hinted at possible regime-change operations against the socialist government in Havana, pledging “a new dawn for Cuba” and warning that it is “next” after he is “finished with this,” in reference to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.

Trump said his policy of “peace through strength” – including the raid to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in January – had been “very, very successful.” 

Cuba has faced nationwide blackouts and severe fuel shortages in recent months, after Venezuela – once its main oil supplier – halted shipments under US pressure.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez condemned Washington’s “ferocious blockade” of fuel supplies, calling it a “brutal onslaught” on the country’s economic system.

The situation briefly eased in late March, when a Russian tanker delivered 100,000 tons of crude after reportedly bypassing the US blockade. Trump later said that Washington doesn’t “mind having somebody get a boat load” into the island, as “they need to survive.” Moscow has said it will maintain support for Cuba amid the tightening blockade.