As rolling blackouts plunged the Cuban capital into darkness for a third consecutive day, CIA Director William Burns arrived Tuesday to formally offer the island nation humanitarian assistance in surviving the devastating effects of American foreign policy.
HAVANA — The air in the José Martí International Airport VIP lounge smelled faintly of stale diesel and damp linen. Outside, the tarmac baked under a relentless Caribbean sun, entirely devoid of the fuel trucks that once serviced arriving flights.
CIA Director William Burns, adjusting his cuffs in the oppressive humidity, disembarked from a U.S. military aircraft Tuesday to meet with Cuban officials regarding a worsening energy crisis engineered entirely by his own government. His delegation arrived carrying a portfolio of proposed aid packages, meticulously designed to circumvent the exact petroleum embargo his colleagues in Washington spent the morning rigorously enforcing.
We are deeply concerned by the humanitarian toll of the energy crisis we intentionally manufactured. This offer of emergency relief demonstrates our unwavering commitment to solving the catastrophic problems we create, provided the host country ignores the underlying cause.
The delegation's motorcade navigated the darkened streets of the Vedado neighborhood, weaving past stalled 1950s Chevrolets and lines of citizens waiting for rationed cooking oil. Burns is expected to spend the afternoon touring a crippled thermoelectric plant before sitting down with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to negotiate how much U.S. assistance is legally permissible under the strict U.S. sanctions Burns is sworn to uphold.
At press time, the American diplomatic team was reportedly drafting a historic resolution to airlift a shipment of heavy crude oil to Havana, while simultaneously deploying a Coast Guard cutter to intercept it in the Straits of Florida.