Embassies and international companies in Cuba are reviewing their contingency and evacuation plans following pressure from Washington on the island after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The concern, points out a report from EFEhas escalated in foreign diplomatic and business headquarters in the face of growing geopolitical uncertainty in the Caribbean and the possibility that the US could even be preparing a military intervention in Cuba.
More for the “national emergency”
The US Undersecretary of State himself, Christopher Landau, assured this Wednesday that Washington would like Cubans to be able to “exercise their fundamental freedoms” in 2026, in a clear reference to a political change on the island.
Shortly afterwards, at the end of Thursday, US President Donald Trump himself had signed an executive order that a “national emergency” was intensifying, according to the journalist Wilfredo Cancio existing since 1996, due to the alleged threat that Cuba represents to the security of the United States.
Trump declares a “national emergency” and threatens tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba
The news now is the announcement of a system of tariffs against any country that supplies oil to the island, in a move that could suffocate the Cuban economy in the midst of an unprecedented energy crisis.
Reaction between foreign legations
Meanwhile, and according to EFE, embassies and companies are studying measures to address this reality. “It is our responsibility to review the plans and prepare scenarios,” says a diplomat in Havana who prefers to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.
About a dozen European and Latin American countries have acknowledged to EFE – in exchange for not disclosing their names – that they are updating their evacuation plans and their lists of nationals residing in Cuba, sometimes calling their citizens one by one to verify the data.
There are also diplomatic legations gearing up to be able to withstand long periods without electricity, fuel and water, eventualities that they understand may occur due to the combination of the current context of total crisis on the island and growing American pressure.
Other embassies, in a smaller number, have, on the contrary, indicated to EFE that so far they do not see the need to update their evacuation plans, although they acknowledge that they do not rule out and remain alert to the possibility that in the future it will be necessary to activate emergency procedures.
Rethink activity in Cuba
Among the private sector, there are several subsidiaries of international companies contacted by EFE that recognize, privately, that geopolitical uncertainty has led them to rethink their activity in Cuba with their parent companies.
The two reasons they allege are a potential US military intervention, however surgical it may be, and the impact on their activity of the country’s serious economic deterioration, especially with the increase in blackouts and critical fuel shortages, sources from these companies indicate.
Some international firms – always under condition of anonymity – claim to have a reserve of fuel for their manufacturing operations, but advance that if shipments from Venezuela and Mexico are permanently cut off, maintaining production will be unsustainable.
The most notable case in the private sector is that of the British multinational Unilever, which has already evacuated the families of its foreign workers in the country, as confirmed to EFE two sources close to the company, which manufactures hygiene, beauty and cleaning products on the island. EFE contacted the company, but so far has not received a response.
Voltage escalation
USA. has issued several direct warnings to Cuba since Maduro’s capture on January 3 and has forced the closure of the supply of Venezuelan oil to Havana, when Caracas had until now been its main supplier.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, assured this week that, after the energy lock, Cuba was “about to fall,” repeating his thesis of the island’s economic failure.
However, the Republican has already gone further by pointing out that the only thing left to do in Cuba was to “enter and destroy the place.” His Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, added for his part: “If I were in Havana, I would be worried, even a little.”
End of a history?
The disagreements between the US and Cuba date back to the triumph of the revolution on the island in 1959, which upset Washington politically, in the context of the confrontation of the Cold War, and economically, due to the wave of nationalizations that it entailed.
This new measure demonstrates the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a cabal that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal purposes.
3/3
— Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (@DiazCanelB) January 30, 2026
The bilateral relationship since then has experienced recurring escalations of tension, among which the Bay of Pigs invasion (1961), the missile crisis (1962), the mass migratory exodus of Mariel (1980) and the shooting down of the ‘Brothers to the Rescue’ small planes (1996) stand out.
The current situation is the most tense between both countries, in the opinion of experts, who highlight both Washington’s current assertiveness – which does not rule out the military option – and the total crisis in which Cuba finds itself, the worst in decades.
Regarding the latest announcements from the United States, Díaz-Canel wrote from X: “This new measure shows the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a cabal that has kidnapped the interests of the American people for purely personal purposes.”
