NewsTracker Answers for week of Feb. 16, 2026

Q: Cuba is rationing fuel and electricity after the Trump administration cut off oil shipments from the Caribbean nation’s primary suppliers, Venezuela and Mexico. Where is Cuba?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Cuba warned last week that it could no longer refuel airliners during the height of its vital tourism season. The majority of Cuba’s much-needed tourists come from which nation?

A. Britain

B. Canada

C. Russia

D. United States


B. Three-quarters of a million Canadians visited Cuba last year, but all three airlines carrying Canadian visitors canceled flights because of the aviation fuel shortage. Two Russian airlines also canceled flights for the third-largest group of visitors to Cuba.


Q: President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January imposing tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil. Which nation promises to send oil to Cuba despite the tariff threat?

A. Brazil

B. Nigeria

C. Russia

D. Saudi Arabia


C. Russian officials accused the United States of trying to "suffocate" Cuba’s economy and said U.S. tariffs did not pose a great threat because there is little trade between the countries. While Mexico stopped oil deliveries after Trump’s tariff threat, it sent two shiploads of humanitarian aid to Cuba last week.


Q: How long has the United States restricted trade with Cuba?

A. 8 years

B. 28 years

C. 48 years

D. 68 years


D. The longest trade embargo in modern history began in 1958 when the United States stopped selling arms during the Cuban Revolution. It expanded to a near-total trade ban in the 1960s after Cuba's new rulers began seizing the 75% of arable land, 90% of essential services, and 40% of sugar production owned by U.S. and other foreign investors.


Q: That attempt by Fidel Castro to create a self-sufficient socialist state failed, and Cuba became almost completely dependent on economic aid from which nation?

A. Chile

B. China

C. Soviet Union

D. Spain


C. Cuba became a Soviet ally in the Cold War rivalry with the United States. The nuclear superpowers came close to World War III in 1962 after the Soviets deployed missiles in Cuba. Under Soviet sponsorship, Cuba backed communist rebels in Latin America and Africa. The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union severely harmed Cuba’s economy.