A man cooks with wood during a power outage in Havana on May 13, 2026.
Yamil Raji | AFP | Getty Images
Cuba’s energy minister said Wednesday that the country is running out of fuel due to the U.S. economic blockade.
“If you add up the different types of fuel, we have no crude oil, no heavy oil, no diesel at all… All we have is gas from wells where production is growing,” Cuba’s Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levi told state media, according to the BBC broadcast.
A U.S. blockade has blocked oil shipments to Cuba since January, causing power outages lasting up to 22 hours a day in parts of Cuba’s capital, Havana.
De la O Levy said the country’s predicament was “extremely urgent”.
Protests broke out in the city on Wednesday night, with hundreds of people swarming the streets, blocking roads with trash and chanting “turn on the lights,” according to Reuters, which has reporters in Havana.
People walk through the streets during a power outage in Havana on May 13, 2026.
Yamil Raji | AFP | Getty Images
Separately reported by the Guardian, Mr de la O Levy warned that Cuba had “no reserves” and the country’s electricity grid was in a “crisis state”.
Cuba was heavily dependent on oil from Venezuela, but the communist-ruled Caribbean island has been effectively cut off since early January, when the United States launched a military operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The Trump administration called the Cuban government an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and suggested the White House could turn its attention to Cuba once the Iran war ends.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, President Trump said talks between the U.S. and Cuba would take place, but did not elaborate on when.
“Cuba wants help and we will talk,” he said ahead of his trip to China.
The U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it stands ready to provide $100 million in aid to Cuba, adding that the U.S. government “continues to seek meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist regime.”
“It is the Cuban regime’s decision whether to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical life-saving aid, and ultimately it will be held responsible for the Cuban people it stands in the way of critical assistance,” it said in a statement.
—CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
