Cuba Reeling After Hurricane Rafael, Two Earthquakes: What You Need To Know

Hurricane Rafael, the 17th named storm of the 2024 season, tore through the Caribbean before hitting Cuba as a category 3 storm.

What Happened: Two earthquakes impacted Cuba following the hurricane, according to Bloomberg.

While electrical workers restored power to the vast majority of Havana by the weekend, outages persist, sparking rare public protests. The earthquakes, with magnitudes of 4.0 and 6.8, triggered mudslides, damaged homes and worsened power issues.

Hurricane Oscar, a relatively weak Atlantic hurricane, previously hit the island nation in late October.

Why it Matters: U.S.-Cuba relations normalized while President Barack Obama was in office following decades of tight economic sanctions against the former Soviet ally. This led to the reopening of embassies in both countries, the easing of some travel and trade restrictions, and increased people-to-people exchanges.

Obama visited Cuba in 2016, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so since 1928, and more airlines and cruise lines began service between the two nations.

After Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he reversed many of Obama's policies, reimposing travel restrictions, limiting remittances and tightening trade sanctions.

Trump’s foreign policy decisions contributed to an economic crisis in Cuba during his administration, according to Bloomberg.

In 2022, the Biden administration authorized $2 million of foreign aid to Cuba following Hurricane Ian, according to Reuters.

Trump’s plans for U.S.-Cuban relations in his impending second term are unclear at this moment.

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Photo: Hurricane Rafael.11.5.2024, as a tropical storm approaching Cuba. Courtesy the NOAA/Public Domain