Scattered Protests Erupt as Cuba Says It’s Entirely Out of Fuel

Article content

(Bloomberg) — Cuba said the country has completely run out of the diesel and fuel oil it needs to keep its power plants running, with civil unrest starting to break out amid a de facto US energy blockade of the communist-run nation. 

Article content

“The system has, once again, been left without any fuel reserves,” Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said during a press conference late Wednesday. “There’s absolutely nothing.”

Article content

Article content

While the island of 10 million people is using some domestic fuel production and solar energy to keep some lights on, the entire grid is now so fragile that large swathes of the country are going dark. Cuba’s electrical union said it could only cover about a third of national power demand.

Article content

Article content

Social media reports showed sporadic protests breaking out in and around the capital of Havana before night fell on Wednesday, with people banging pots — and in some cases lighting fires — on darkened streets for hours thereafter.

Article content

Article content

President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed the increasingly dire situation on Donald Trump’s pressure campaign. “This dramatic decline in conditions has only one cause: the genocidal energy blockade that the US has imposed on our country, as it threatens to impose irrational tariffs on any nation that provides us with energy,” Díaz-Canel said in a post on X.  

Article content

The US has cut off the island from virtually all fuel imports since January — only letting a single Russian tanker through. That ship, which docked in late March, allowed the island to reduce the frequency and length of blackouts, de la O said. But the 730,000 barrels of oil it was carrying ran out in early April. 

Article content

Washington blames Cuba’s economic failings on mismanagement and corruption and has said the 67-year-old regime needs to step down — or be ousted — before the economy can begin to improve.

Article content

Article content

While talks between US and Cuban officials are ongoing, few concessions have been made. Both sides are now allowing the island’s small but growing private sector to import fuel to cover its own needs, but those shipments are “measured in liters” while the energy grid needs “millions of tons,” de la O said.

Article content

Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Cuba was ignoring a US offer of $100 million in aid to avert a humanitarian crisis just 90 miles from Florida’s shores. The State Department reiterated the aid pledge on Wednesday.

Article content

Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez acknowledged Thursday that a formal offer had been received. He said the island is always willing to accept “foreign aid made in good faith,” even if it comes from a nation “that is submitting the Cuban people to collective punishment through economic warfare.”

Article content

Cuba is “open to learning more about the characteristics of the aid and how it will be delivered,” Rodríguez said in a post on X. “We hope it’s free of political strings and attempts to capitalize on the needs and pain of a nation that’s under siege.”

Article content