U.S. face-off with Cuba could put Canada ‘in a vise grip’: former ambassadorBy Canadian Press on January 30, 2026. For more than a year, Global Affairs Canada has warned travellers of “shortages of basic necessities, including food, medicine and fuel” across most of Cuba. “The U.S. actions in Venezuela have had a huge impact here.”Dubinsky researches people-to-people ties between Canada and Cuba, as well as the politics of music in Cuba. Global Affairs Canada says Canada is Cuba’s second-largest source of direct investment, particularly in the mining and tourism sectors, which have never fully recovered from the pandemic slump. He said Canada could one day help Cuba transition to a social-democratic model similar to some European states.