Cuba’s vitality and mines minister introduced Wednesday that the capital, Havana, is dealing with its worst rolling blackouts in many years and has fully run out of diesel and gasoline oil amid a U.S. gasoline blockade.
“There isn’t any gasoline (oil), no diesel in any respect,” Vitality Minister Vicente de la O advised state media, including that the nation’s energy grid was in a “disaster” state. “We haven’t any reserves.”
Energy outages have elevated dramatically this week and proceed throughout the capital Havana, with many areas with out gentle for 20 to 22 hours a day, elevating tensions in a metropolis already reeling from meals, gasoline and medication shortages, the minister stated.
He stated the nationwide energy grid was working completely on home crude oil, pure fuel and renewable vitality.
Cuba has put in 1,300 megawatts of solar energy over the previous two years, however a lot of that capability has been misplaced because of grid instability because of gasoline shortages, lowering effectivity and output, Delao stated.
Cuba continues to barter gasoline imports regardless of the blockade, the nation’s high vitality official stated, however rising world oil and transport costs amid the U.S.-Israel battle with Iran are additional complicating these efforts.
“Cuba welcomes anybody who desires to promote gasoline,” the minister stated.
Neither Mexico nor Venezuela, as soon as Cuba’s largest oil suppliers, have despatched gasoline to Cuba since President Trump’s January 2026 government order threatening to impose tariffs on any nation transport gasoline to the communist-run Cuba.
There is just one giant oil tanker, the Russian-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin. Since December, it has been transporting crude oil to Cuba and offering momentary reduction to Cuba. April.
The brand new energy outages in Havana and different areas come because the U.S. gasoline import blockade on Cuba enters its fourth month, paralyzing public companies throughout the Caribbean island of about 10 million folks.
The United Nations final week known as Trump’s gasoline blockade unlawful and stated it interfered with “the Cuban folks’s proper to improvement whereas undermining their rights to meals, schooling, well being, water and sanitation.”
