By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Cuba warned Americans in the country on Tuesday that there was a spike in government-sponsored protests against Washington and that some
U.S. citizens were denied entry upon arrival.
It also said American citizens in Cuba should prepare for "significant disruption" from power outages and fuel shortages.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT
In recent weeks, Washington has moved to block all oil from reaching Cuba, including that from ally Venezuela, pushing up prices for food and transportation and prompting severe fuel shortages and hours of blackouts.
KEY QUOTES
"Take precautions by conserving fuel, water, food and mobile phone charge, and be prepared for significant disruption," the U.S. embassy noted on its website, saying Cuba's national electrical grid is increasingly unstable and prolonged power outages are a daily occurrence.
"U.S. citizens in Cuba or planning to travel to Cuba are advised that there have been incidents of U.S. citizens being denied entry upon arrival as well as a spike in regime-sponsored protest activity directed at the United States, including anti-U.S. rhetoric."
CONTEXT
Emboldened by the U.S. military's seizure of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a deadly raid last month that President Donald Trump ordered, the Republican leader has talked of acting against Cuba and pressuring its leadership.
The U.N. human rights office has said the U.S. raid in which Maduro was seized was a violation of international law and human rights experts cast Trump's focus on exploiting Venezuelan oil as echoing an imperialist approach.
Trump has said "Cuba will be failing pretty soon," adding that Venezuela, once the island's top supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to Cuba. Trump has also threatened tariffs on goods from countries supplying oil to Cuba.
Cuba's deputy foreign minister told Reuters on Monday Cuba and the U.S. are in communication, although he noted the exchanges have not evolved into formal "dialogue."
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
