According to Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba “has no fuel oil or diesel at all.”
His comments, published Wednesday in state media, highlight the severity of Cuba’s energy crisis, which has deepened since January with a near-total U.S. blockade of fuel imports.
The impact of the fuel shortage was immediate Wednesday night, when widespread power outages sparked protests in Havana. The protests soon died down, but much of eastern Cuba remained in darkness on Thursday.
Cuba has domestic reserves of natural gas and crude oil, but lacks the funds to maintain or upgrade the refineries needed to convert high-viscosity crude oil into fuel oil essential for power generation.
“Cuba is open to anyone who wants to sell us fuel,” Levy pleaded.
However, Cuba cut off most international oil imports from the United States, threatening to impose tariffs on all countries supplying oil to Cuba and cutting off Venezuelan oil supplies to the Cuban nation.
Nonetheless, Russia sent oil tankers in March to help ease the crisis, and China has also helped Cuba install solar power plants across the island, easing its dependence on imported fuel.
Still, it’s unclear whether any country would be willing to provide Cuba with enough oil to sustain the country’s power grid indefinitely. There is also no guarantee that the United States will allow new foreign oil imports.
The United States is reportedly considering sending a humanitarian aid package worth $100 million to the island to ease the impact of its oil blockade, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Havana yesterday to discuss “intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues.”
Since the United States and Cuba have been entrenched geopolitical enemies since the victory of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, Ratcliffe is likely the first CIA director to visit the island since 1953.
Tensions between Washington and Havana are rising dramatically, although the two countries are engaged in formal diplomatic negotiations. The North American superpower has repeatedly threatened Cuba’s leadership with political regime change and has stepped up punitive sanctions against officials and economic entities deemed linked to the Cuban regime.
Although the United States claims the measures only target the Cuban government, the punitive measures have created an economic and humanitarian crisis that has harmed many ordinary Cubans, with blackouts cutting operating hours for hospitals, schools and workplaces.
But critics of the Cuban regime argue that the Caribbean country’s energy shortages and humanitarian suffering are the result of the authoritarianism of its political leadership, economic mismanagement and corruption.
Featured Image: Oil refinery near Regla, Cuba
Image source: Marcel601 via Wikimedia Commons
patent: Creative Commons License
