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Cuba in crisis amid pressure from Trump administration: 5 things to know

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/16/26 2:50 PM ET

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/16/26 2:50 PM ET

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Cuban officials on Friday announced that the island country has run out of oil and diesel as it grapples with a worsening humanitarian crisis in the face of increasing pressure from the Trump administration to change its ways under U.S. terms or risk potential military action.

Decades of sanctions stemming from Cold War-era tensions between the two countries have resulted in calls among President Trump’s allies — following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the killing of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — to bring Cuba’s Castro-influenced government to its knees.

But Cuban officials have remained defiant against U.S. demands, with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel saying last month that the U.S. blockade on the island country is “genocidal.”

“It is a perverse design whose main objective is the suffering of the entire people, to hold them hostage and turn them against the Government,” he wrote on the social platform X.

Here are five things to know about the situation:

Cuba faces energy crisis

Along with no fuel as a result of an oil embargo imposed by the U.S. after Maduro’s capture, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state media that Cuba’s electric grid was in a “critical state” with frequent rolling blackouts, including some lasting 22 hours a day.

Cuba was energy-dependent on oil from Venezuela, having received one oil shipment since January. Officials have pointed to the Trump administration’s warning to other countries to not do business with Cuba or sell oil at the risk of facing tariffs, along with ousting Maduro, as reasons for why the energy crisis started.

Mexico, which was once a key oil provider for Cuba, has helped deliver humanitarian aid to the country. Russia provided some short-term relief with its own oil, but de la O Levy told United Press International that a 730,000-barrel delivery from a Russian-flagged tanker had run out.

The energy minister also noted that Cuba has pursued negotiations to import fuel, though the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran has complicated those efforts.

The lack of electricity has pushed many Cubans to take to Havana’s streets and protest the government. Protesters in Havana this week were heard shouting “Turn on the lights!” Reuters reported.

Trump administration reportedly nearing Castro indictment

The Associated Press on Friday reported that the Trump administration is preparing to seek an indictment against former Cuban President Raúl Castro, according to three people familiar with the matter. Castro, 94, is the brother of the late, longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

The indictment is in connection with Raúl Castro’s alleged role, while as defense minister, in the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones created a working group of prosecutors and federal law enforcement to build cases against top Cuban officials, the AP reported in March. The group was formed as south Florida Republicans called on reopening the investigation into Castro’s alleged role in the 1996 incident.

US officials up pressure on Cuba

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Thursday joined several other U.S. officials who have built up U.S. pressure toward Cuba during a visit to Havana. He traveled to “personally deliver President Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes,” the CIA previously said.

The messaging mirrors those made by other officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Last week, he claimed that Cuba refused a $100 million humanitarian aid offer from the U.S. as the island country recovers from Hurricane Melissa. Foreign Affairs Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla denied that the U.S. made such an offer.

Rubio, who is Cuban American and a longtime critic of the Castro regime, also announced new sanctions on two Cuban entities and one individual accused of helping prop up the communist government.

Cuba has sought to assure the U.S. that it is not a threat and has maintained its sovereignty in the face of the pressure. Cuba’s Charge d’Affaires to the United States Lianys Torres Rivera previously told The Hill that Cuba will stick to its “red lines” and if a military attack comes, “we are preparing for this.”

Similarly, Cuban Ambassador to the U.N. Ernesto Soberón Guzmán told Fox News earlier thi