Hospitals have been suffering from rolling blackouts and stockpiles are reportedly set to run out within weeks
Mexican ships carrying humanitarian aid have docked in Havana, challenging a US blockade that has sparked a severe energy crisis in Cuba. Rolling blackouts and enforced fuel rationing have severely disrupted key services, including hospitals.
The Mexican deliveries arrived on Thursday, two weeks after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba. US pressure has halted Mexican oil shipments, while Russia has offered crude and refined oil as a “humanitarian lifeline” to the import-dependent island, whose existing Venezuelan and Mexican fuel stocks are expected to run out within weeks.
In Havana, residents are turning to homemade charcoal stoves, electric motorcycles, and, where affordable, solar panels to cope with power outages of up to 12 hours a day and a deepening fuel shortage, local media say.
The fuel crisis in Cuba deepened after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, cutting off Caracas’s oil exports, a key supply to the import-dependent island.
Six of Cuba’s 16 thermoelectric power plants, including two of the three largest, are offline for maintenance or repairs, cutting thermal generation – about 40% of the country’s energy mix – to half capacity, according to Latin Times.
Another 40% comes from generators, which President Miguel Diaz-Canel said have been offline for a month due to the US oil embargo.
With the island producing barely a third of its energy needs, the government last week imposed emergency measures: diesel sales halted, gasoline heavily rationed, jet fuel unavailable, state offices shortening hours and public services limited to essentials.
Residents are also awaiting humanitarian food shipments to state-run stores, where goods are distributed through ration cards amid severe shortages.
“Some items, like sugar or rice, may not be available for weeks,” local resident and Russian national Elena Lapina told Russia’s Aif newspaper. “Prices in these stores are low, but basic staples needed for daily life are still in short supply.”
Fuel distributors now sell gasoline in US dollars with a 20-liter limit, as tight supplies trigger rolling blackouts, hospital disruptions, and shortages of medicines, including antibiotics.
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Earlier this week, Moscow’s embassy in Havana announced that Russia is preparing to send a shipment of oil and petroleum products to Cuba.
International airlines, including Russian carriers, have been warned they may be unable to refuel at Cuban airports for at least a month amid the island’s energy crisis. Hundreds of Russians face canceled flights and disrupted trips, with some returned to Moscow.
Cuba, under a US embargo since 1959, consumes about 100,000 barrels of oil daily, with Mexico, Venezuela, and Russia supplying most imports.
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