Cuba says it has completely run out of diesel and fuel oil, worsening a deepening energy shortage that has triggered widespread blackouts and scattered protests in the capital, Havana.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said the country’s power system was in a “critical” state as a US-led blockade squeezed fuel supplies.
“The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none – I am being repetitive – the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown,” he said in an interview with state-run media.
The minister said parts of Havana were facing blackout periods lasting between 20 and 22 hours daily. Hospitals, schools and government offices have also been affected by the prolonged outages.
Reuters reported that scattered protests broke out across Havana on Wednesday as frustrated residents demanded electricity restoration.
Cuba traditionally depends on oil supplies from Venezuela and Mexico, but shipments have reduced sharply after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on countries supplying fuel to the island.
The US State Department this week repeated an offer of $100m in humanitarian assistance in exchange for “meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system”. Havana denied claims it rejected the offer.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez described recent US sanctions targeting senior Cuban officials as “illegal and abusive”.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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