See gas lines and power outages in Cuba and hear how residents are coping. Upgrade to see the full report.
HAVANA, Cuba – The atmosphere at a recent staff meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Havana was somber as tensions between the United States and Cuba soared to their highest level since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
“If you haven’t packed your bags yet, pack your bags,” U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Mike Hammer said, according to people who attended the meeting.
“Cubans have been complaining about the ‘blockade’ for years,” Hammer told the assembled American diplomats and local staff, referring to the more than 60-year U.S. economic blockade against Cuba by the Cuban government.
“But now we’re going to start a full-fledged lockdown,” Hammer continued. “Nothing is coming in. There’s no more oil coming in.”
Asked by CNN about the diplomat’s ominous comments, a State Department spokesperson said the department does not comment on internal meetings.
Although there is no sign that U.S. diplomats will be withdrawn from Havana, the stark warning comes just weeks after a U.S. raid in Caracas killed 32 Cuban military and intelligence officials protecting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. It was the deadliest clash between U.S. and Cuban forces since the end of the Cold War.
More than 100 Venezuelans and Cubans were killed in the operation to bring President Maduro to U.S. federal court on drug trafficking charges, which President Maduro denies.
Maduro’s detention removed the Cuban government’s closest ally from power and cut off fuel supplies from the oil-rich South American country, possibly permanently.
Energy industry analysts say Havana relies on Venezuela for more than a third of its oil needs. The US attack has disrupted oil shipments, and both power outages and gas lines across Cuba have become increasingly long in recent days.
Immediately after the attack on Venezuela on January 3, President Trump said, “Cuba is ready to collapse.” “I don’t know if they’ll hold out.”
Trump’s prediction was audacious and belied by the fact that the revolution founded by Fidel Castro in the 1950s survived all sorts of obscure CIA assassination plots and decades of distortions in the economic sector.
Billions of dollars in oil sent to Cuba from socialist ally Venezuela saved Cuba’s economy from complete collapse after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Sensing weakness, the Trump administration is increasingly looking for ways to hasten the collapse of the communist-run Havana government.
“We want to see the regime change there,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and a longtime enemy of the Cuban government, said Wednesday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Venezuela.
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to make a difference,” Rubio continued. “But we want change. There is no question that it would be in the great interest of the United States if Cuba was no longer ruled by a dictatorship.”
According to Politico, the White House is considering imposing a naval blockade against Cuba, the first since Soviet missiles were discovered during the 1962 missile crisis that nearly sparked World War III, to prevent oil shipments to Cuba.
Carlos Fernández de Cossio, Cuba’s top diplomat for U.S. affairs, wrote in X that the reported naval blockade was “a brutal attack on a nation that does not threaten the United States and a peaceful people that is not hostile to any nation.”
President Trump said Cuba should reach an “agreement” with the United States to avoid a total cutoff, without providing details, but said one could require the return of property confiscated from Cuban exiles who left the island after the 1959 revolution.
Based on this request alone, it seems difficult to imagine that the Cuban government would accept it if any negotiations were to take place. Cuban officials have repeatedly told CNN that the Cuban government is not involved in negotiations with the Trump administration.
Energy analyst Jorge Piñon said the consequences would be catastrophic if the United States continued to block oil leaks from Venezuela and pressured Cuba’s few remaining oil-producing allies, such as Mexico, to curb their own shipments.
“If the oil valve really closes, Cuba faces an imminent economic collapse, there is no question about that. Without oil, there is no economy,” Piñon told CNN. “A hurricane is approaching.”
On Tuesday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico had made a “sovereign decision” to postpone plans to ship oil to Cuba, adding that the country would continue to show “solidarity” to Cuba.
The effects of reduced fuel supplies are already visible almost everywhere.
I have lived in Cuba for 14 years and am still amazed at how quickly and how far this crisis has hit.
Most days, the power is off longer than it is on, with multiple hour-long power outages. The entire city of Havana is plunged into darkness every night. I dedicate an entire WhatsApp chat to where to find fuel and which solar panels to import. To be in Cuba right now is to watch an already struggling economy grind to a halt in real time.
Driving in the city has become more dangerous as traffic lights are frequently out at major intersections. Several government-run radio and television stations in rural areas were forced to suspend operations due to a lack of electricity and fuel to run generators.
Cubans have endured decades of economic hardship and scarcity of every kind imaginable, often with a gallows-honed sense of humor.
Recently, a Cuban friend asked me, “What’s the difference between Cuba and the Titanic?”
“Even though the Titanic sank, the lights were still on,” he replied with a tired smile.
This week, a state television host drew ridicule from many Cubans when he said on his program that Cuban revolutionary and poet José Martí lived in a time when Cuba had no electricity and was “a genius.”
When I met Gerardo, a doctor who didn’t want CNN to publish his last name for fear of government retaliation for speaking out about the island’s precarious economic situation, he was happily filling up his dilapidated 1980s Peugeot using an online system at one of the last gas stations that accepted Cuban pesos. He waited 29 days for his turn at the pump.
“Things are going to get tough,” he said. “I’m happy to be chosen today. I don’t know if I’ll be able to be next.”
Long lines for gas stretched for hours at gas stations that charged in US dollars. A tank of gas costs $52, more than most Cubans’ monthly income.
In Cuba’s rural areas, the ongoing energy crisis is even worse.
In his small backyard in the town of Artemisa, photographer Dairon Blanco Urra demonstrated the small charcoal grill he used to make coffee during the power outage.
“A lot of people are cooking this way now,” Blanco says.
Blanco said he was luckier than many residents because he had a small generator connected to his refrigerator to keep food from spoiling. He said he had neighbors store perishable food in their refrigerators during extended power outages.
“I’m really worried,” he said. “When the power goes out, food goes bad. Even food you bought a month ago spoils in two or three days.”
Blanco said his biggest concern during the power outage is that his already unstable internet connection has been cut and he is unable to send photos to his customers.
“We have to wait four to five hours for the electricity to come back. That also prevents us from moving forward,” he said. “How can I make a living?”
Among the more than 2 million Cubans who have immigrated in recent years, many of Blanco’s friends also left the country. Blanco said he wants to stay in Cuba but recognizes that the economy may not have hit rock bottom yet.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens,” he said.
After the interview as we left Artemisa, the entire town was pitch black, except for a few houses where generators were rattling.
Far from bowing to pressure, the Cuban government has gone even further. News programs have begun showing military drills and soldiers training the population to repel the invasion.
The government speaks of a “national war” in which the entire population fights a long, bloody guerrilla conflict.
“The best way to avoid any kind of aggression is for the imperialists to calculate the cost,” state television showed Cuban President Miguel Díaz telling senior officials after a demonstration of exercises using what appeared to be Cold War-era tanks and helicopters.
Most Cubans I know have relatives in the United States and are avid consumers of American culture, and so far they have only welcomed me and my family. They greeted then-President Barack Obama on a visit to Havana in 2016, declaring that they had come to bury “the last remnants of the Cold War in the Americas.”
The idea of a confrontation between the country of my birth and the country where I have lived more than a quarter of my life seems senseless and cruel, and this event will play into the hands of extremists on both sides.
The once beautiful city of Havana now looks like a war zone, littered with debris from buildings that have collapsed from years of neglect.
No official conflict has been declared, but the body count comes as tensions between the US and Cuba escalate.
When the remains of 32 Cuban fighters killed in Venezuela were returned to the island this month, the government did everything in its power to give them a heroic welcome.
Despite a lack of fuel and public transport, tens of thousands of students and workers took buses to pay their respects at the monument in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolucion.
Many in the crowd appeared to be just going through the motions, abandoning their lines to take shelter as the storm moved in.
But others who waited seemed to be fueled by resentment at an era in U.S.-Cuba relations that until recently had been relegated to the history books.
I asked a well-dressed, white-haired woman named Iliana what she would do if the United States attacked Cuba like it did with Venezuela.
“No matter what happens, we will face it with strong determination,” she said, her voice shaking. “Everyone without a weapon will throw stones. We don’t know what will happen, but we are willing to die.”
