Sheinbaum Will Soon Have To 'Choose' Between Helping Sustain Cuban Regime Or Be On Trump's Good Side, Mexican Journalist Claims

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will soon have to "choose" between helping sustain the Cuban regime or being on U.S. counterpart Donald Trump's good side, according to a prominent Mexican journalist.

In a guest opinion post published by The Washington Post, Leon Krauze noted that Mexico is "choosing to remain Cuba's oil lifeline" following the capture of Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro and the consequent shift in policies by interim leader Delcy Rodriguez.

He went on to say that the decision appears to be ideological, with Sheinbaum "following in the footsteps of her mentor, former president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador," who was historically supportive of authoritarian governments in the region that claimed to be left-wing.

Elsewhere in the post, Krauze said that sending oil to Cuba "does not seem to benefit the Cuban people," who are still enduring the worst economic crisis since the Communist revolution almost 70 years ago. In turn, it is only helping to "entrench the brutal regime."

As a result, Sheinbaum is at a crossroads, Krauze argued, as Mexico "cannot openly sustain the Cuban dictatorship while simultaneously expecting goodwill or flexibility from Washington."

He concluded by saying that the country can "defend its sovereignty and chart its own course but not to the point of irresponsibility." "If obstinacy triumphs over pragmatism, the costs will be real, immediate and borne by regular working people — as it usually is when committed ideologues get their way."

The post was published on the same day the Wall Street Journal claimed that the Trump administration is looking for Cuban insiders to make a deal that will end the Havana regime by the end of the year. Officials, however, don't have a concrete plan to end the Communist government after almost 70 years, the outlet added.

Cuba is currently receiving a fraction of the 100,000 daily barrels of oil it needs to function. In fact, a regime-run television and radio broadcaster said on Tuesday it was off the air for several days because it didn't have diesel to power the station.

According to a recent poll, over three in four Cubans intend to flee the country. The survey was conducted by the Social Rights Observatory during the summer and reported by the Wall Street Journal as part of a broader piece about the country's crumbling economy.

The same poll showed that seven in ten respondents go at least without a meal a day and nearly 90% live in extreme poverty. Moreover, for over 70% of Cubans their main concerns are the lack of food and constant blackouts.