In the 1960s, when the Cuban Revolution was just beginning and staining the walls of the La Cabaña fortress with blood and brains, Mexico was throwing lifelines to Fidel Castro. After Cuba’s expulsion from the Organization of American States, only the progressive government of Adolfo López Mateos broke the diplomatic isolation with Havana.
During the first half of the 20th century, Mexico was the main espionage hub for the Left in the Americas. The Soviet KGB and the German Stasi roamed the capital, where a cultural elite, such as the visual artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, created a welcoming environment for those hopeful of a proletarian revolution. Its proximity to the United States, its main enemy, made the Hispanic country appealing.
Although spies still exist, today there is no longer a need for espionage to influence the destiny of Mexican society or government. The Left itself, through the Morena Party, has held state power since 2018 — and has adopted everything from the most ridiculous anti-imperialism, which demands that the King of Spain apologize to Mexicans for having been part of the Kingdom, to the woke ideology that creates a National Secretariat of Sexual Diversity within its structure.
As at the beginning of Castroism, now in its final throes, the Mexican left is once again the ultimate support of the Cuban dictatorship.
According to energy specialist Ramsés Pech, speaking to the newspaper Reforma, Havana owes Mexico approximately $1.55 billion for fuel exports made between May and November 2025. During that period, Mexico exported 12.4 million barrels of Isthmus-type crude oil and 5.3 million barrels of diesel to the Cuban government.
True to its practice of political vampirism, Havana frequently receives shipments in the form of “donations or subsidized supplies,” something that Pech warns has a direct impact on Mexican public finances. Once again, solidarity with the Cuban socialist tyranny is being paid for by taxpayers. In short, a country with 38.5 million poor people (almost 30% of the population) under a left-wing government is subsidizing the tyrannical left-wing leadership so that it can keep 90% of its citizens in misery.
We know that the shipment of crude oil from Venezuela at preferential prices for the regime was mediated by an ideological colonization by Chavismo, a movement that is a legitimate offspring of Castroism; Nicolás Maduro’s security detail consisted of Cuban military personnel, with orders to kill him if he negotiated a way out with Trump. But, in the case of Mexico, what forces are at play there?
The revelation came a few days ago from Mexican diplomat Ricardo Pascoe, former ambassador to the island between 2000 and 2002, who said that Sheinbaum “is surrounded by Cuban advisors ... in the National Palace, and they are obviously exerting pressure and are a fundamental factor in Mexico’s attempt to make an ideological shift towards Cuba.”
Sheinbaum is becoming a “champion of the radical left, where Mexico is a prisoner of the Morena ideology,” sacrificing the national interest, that is, good trade relations with the United States, Pascoe warned.
In May 2025, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) increased its crude oil shipments to Cuba in 2024, and its subsidiary Gasolinas de Bienestar exported 20,100 barrels of crude oil and 2,700 barrels of petroleum products daily that year, for an amount equivalent to $600 million, according to the company’s annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Reuters reported.
All this wheeling and dealing reminds me of a passage from popular culture. Do you remember in “The Lord of the Rings” saga how Théoden, King of Rohan, was manipulated by his advisor, Gríma Wormtongue, whispering in his ear? Well, that’s what the “Cuban advisors” are doing to sweeten Sheinbaum’s ears (which she probably doesn’t need much of), perhaps with songs by Silvio Rodríguez, poems, or speeches that revive the president’s nostalgia for her years as a radical activist.
But times have changed. President Trump signed an executive order last Thursday that will impose tariffs on any product coming from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba. The amount of oil in the island’s reserves would only last a couple of weeks before the country, which has already been in decline for decades, shifts into neutral in the political gearbox.
When asked by a reporter if he was trying to “suffocate” Cuba, Trump replied that it was a “failed nation.” “The word ‘suffocate’ is pretty harsh,” he added. “That’s not what I’m trying to do, but it seems like it’s something they simply won’t be able to survive.”
For now, Sheinbaum seems to be testing the limits of her rhetoric regarding “solidarity” with Cuba, while maintaining the appearance for her support base (like Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela) of a firm stance against Washington, D.C. But in concrete actions, she would strictly adhere to what was discussed between her foreign minister and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio: shipments to the island would be limited to providing the oil needed “to prevent a humanitarian crisis.” Not a drop more.
Thus, the Castros will have to shake hands with Marco Rubio, agreeing to a deal that guarantees their departure from the island and a transition to democracy, aligning the Caribbean with the Donroe Doctrine of a secure hemisphere without enemies of the West roaming the neighborhood.
