Energy & Environment

Cuba out of fuel oil, diesel under US sanctions, energy minister says

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by Sophie Brams - 05/14/26 12:36 PM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 05/14/26 12:36 PM ET

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Cuba’s energy minister said Wednesday that the country has run out of oil and diesel amid a sustained U.S. blockade that has choked off fuel supply and pushed the island’s energy system to the brink.

“We have absolutely no fuel, and absolutely no diesel,” Vicente de la O Levy said on state media, according to The Guardian. “We have no reserves.”

The energy minister added that the nation’s electric grid was in a “critical” state, with rolling blackouts — lasting 22 hours a day in some neighborhoods — becoming more frequent in the capital of Havana.

Cuba, which is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil, has received only one shipment of oil since January. But United Press International separately reported that de la O Levy said the 730,000-barrel delivery from a Russian-flagged tanker had run out, and the national grid was now operating solely on Cuba’s domestic crude oil, natural gas and renewable energy.

Cuban officials have blamed the acute fuel shortage on an embargo imposed by the Trump administration following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year. President Trump has also warned other countries not to do business with Cuba.

“This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal energy blockade to which the United States subjects our country, threatening irrational tariffs against any nation that supplies us with fuel,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote in a Wednesday post on the social platform X.

“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 added.

Senior Trump administration officials have not been shy about their desire for regime change in Cuba, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously signaling that the U.S. has not ruled out relaxing its economic pressure campaign in exchange for new leadership.

Rubio, a Cuban American, has long been critical of the Cuban government and reinstated financial sanctions on military- and government-linked entities as one of his first acts in office last year. The State Department imposed new sanctions last week against two Cuban entities and one individual accused of helping to prop up the communist regime.

“Cubans leave Cuba, they go to other countries and become successful,” Rubio said during an interview with Fox News aboard Air Force One this week. “The only place in the world where Cubans can’t seem to prosper and succeed is in Cuba.”

The energy situation, coupled with a burgeoning humanitarian crisis, has created unrest inside the country. Hundreds of Cubans took to the streets in Havana on Wednesday evening in protest, according to Reuters, which reported that crowds were blocking roads, banging pots and pans and shouting “Turn on the lights!”

The outlet noted a heavy police presence at the protest sites but said security forces largely refrained from interfering.

The energy minister reportedly said Wednesday that Cuba is continuing negotiations to import fuel, but rising global oil and transportation prices due to the conflict with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz have complicated the effort.

“Cuba is open to anyone that wants to sell us fuel,” he said, per Reuters.

Trump, who previously told reporters he believed he would have the “honor of taking Cuba,” referenced purported discussions with Cuba in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday.

“No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba, which is a failed country and only heading in one direction – down! Cuba is asking for help, and we are going to talk!!!” he wrote ahead of a state visit to China.

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