Cuba’s dire energy problem is about to get even worse, the country’s energy minister warned on Wednesday.
Cuba’s energy and mines minister, Vicente de la O Levi, said in a special television appearance on Wednesday night that oil donations from Russia in late March had been exhausted.
“The situation is very tense and the heat is increasing,” de la o Levi told Cuba’s state television, referring to the Caribbean island’s scorching summer that boosts energy demand.
In recent days, small groups of Cubans have taken to the streets, often at night, banging pots and pans to protest lingering energy cuts.
Grim-looking officials reiterated over and over again that the oil reserves needed to run the island’s beleaguered power grid are nearly exhausted.
“There’s no diesel at all,” he said.
The communist-ruled island faces an oil blockade following the U.S. attack on Cuba’s oil-rich country Venezuela in January and the Trump administration’s declaration that the Cuban government is a threat to U.S. national security.
Cuban officials said oil shipments from the United States have been cut off for more than four months, with the exception of one donated Russian crude oil ship.
That oil donation ran out in early May, and Cubans regularly suffer power outages that last most, if not all, days.
Some Cubans currently complain that there is not enough electricity to charge things like electric mopeds and phones. Many people wake up in the middle of the night and during short periods of time when there is electricity to perform basic tasks such as laundry and cooking.
De la O Levy said the island is increasing its use of solar power thanks to panels donated by China, but said the amount of electricity it generates often fluctuates widely depending on cloud cover and weather conditions.
Without expensive batteries to store the electricity generated by your panels, you won’t be able to get a night’s rest during peak demand periods.
“In Havana, power outages are now exceeding 20 to 22 hours (per day),” de la o Levi said.
The Trump administration is trying to force the Cuban government to politically and economically open the island and expel the top leadership in order to lift economic sanctions.
President Donald Trump has said the Cuban government is on the brink of collapse and is considering using military force to seize the island.
Cuban officials angrily pushed back against the pressure campaign, vowing to resist any armed intervention.
On Wednesday, a State Department news release announced that the United States would provide $100 million in aid to the island to implement “meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist regime.”
“It is up to the Cuban regime to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical life-saving aid, and ultimately it will be held accountable to the Cuban people it has interfered with,” the statement said.
