HAVANA — After months of a debilitating energy crisis that has caused widespread power outages, Cuba’s oil reserves have run dry, which is likely to plunge the country into even more frequent, bigger and longer nationwide blackouts, the New York Times reported.On Thursday, Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel urged Washington to end its embargo instead of offering aid as the country’s power blackouts worsened as the country endures worsening power cuts.Dozens of Cubans took to the streets outside of Havana on Wednesday night to protest the crippling blackouts and fuel shortages.Cuba’s energy crisis has deepened since January when the United States imposed an oil blockade on the communist-run island of 9.6 million people.The government has been grappling with a severe energy crisis for more than two years because of crumbling infrastructure and a dwindling supply from its longtime benefactor Venezuela.Only one Russian oil tanker has made it through since then, and power cuts and supply shortages have become the norm, with Cuban officials saying that the country’s oil reserves have run out.While Cuba produces some oil for domestic use, power plants are down and supplies have been exhausted, Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba’s minister of energy and mines, said on Wednesday night.“We have absolutely no fuel oil, absolutely no diesel,” de la O Levy said. “In Havana, the blackouts today exceed 20 or 22 hours.”When electricity returns, it can be for as little as an hour and a half, he said.Data compiled by AFP showed prolonged blackouts and record generation shortfalls in recent days – 65 percent of Cuban territory endured simultaneous blackouts on Tuesday.Venezuelan fuel stopped flowing to Cuba entirely in January, after the United States seized Venezuela’s leader and took control of Venezuela’s oil industry. Later, the Trump administration imposed an effective blockade barring all foreign oil from reaching Cuba, which had also received shipments from Mexico.The governments in Havana and Washington have been engaged in secret negotiations for weeks. For Cuba, the goal is to end the energy blockade. For the United States, the talks are focused on ending the government’s grip on the economy and ending political repression.The Cuban government announced that on Thursday CIA Director John Ratcliffe had visited Cuba.In recent months, many Cuban cities beyond Havana have been hit with prolonged daily blackouts. The lack of oil has forced people to rely on charcoal or even wood to cook, and some people have taken to the streets, banging on pots and pans to express their frustration.A delivery of 100,000 tons of oil from Russia last month permitted by the Trump administration provided a reprieve. But those supplies have been exhausted, de la O Levy said.He warned that energy shortages were expected to worsen in coming weeks because temperatures were rising and the demand on the power grid increased during summer months.President Díaz-Canel acknowledged that the energy situation was “particularly tense.”“This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal energy blockade to which the United States subjects our country,” he said on X.The energy minister said that even solar power was not a reliable alternative because the grid was too weak to handle the electric current supplied by solar panel parks.“The little power we are generating is being used to protect hospitals, high-priority economic sites and a number of other circuits that must be protected due to system fluctuations,” de la O Levy said.The Trump administration has blamed what it said was the government’s failure to manage its economy for Cuba’s energy crisis.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio renewed an offer of $100 million in aid on the condition that the assistance be distributed by the Catholic Church, bypassing the government.In a post on X, Diaz-Canel urged the United States to instead lift its blockade.”The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced,” he said.But, if Washington showed “true willingness” to provide aid, he added, “it will encounter no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba.”
Keep Up to Date with our Weekly Newsletter
