Power outages in Cuba worsened on Thursday as Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told state television that oil reserves were “depleted” amid the ongoing US blockade of oil shipments.
The minister said Cuba’s power grid had reached a “critical” state.
“We have no fuel at all [oil]And no diesel at all… The impact of the blockade is really hurting us… because we are still not getting fuel.”
Later Thursday, the Cuban government said officials met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Interior Ministry in Havana with the goal of improving bilateral cooperation. According to a Cuban statement, the meeting took place “with the aim of contributing to the political dialogue between the two countries, in a context marked by the complexity of bilateral relations”.
Cuba shuts down oil and gas
The US has blocked fuel imports into Cuba for four months to put pressure on the Communist Party-run government. In January 2026, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on any country supplying fuel to Cuba.
Since then, Cuba’s top suppliers, Venezuela and Mexico, have not sent fuel to Cuba. The only deliveries to Cuba since December have come from a Russian-flagged oil tanker that delivered a shipment of crude in April.
De La O’Levy said Thursday that Cuba is continuing talks to import fuel despite the blockade, but he added that rising oil prices due to the Iran war are complicating the matter.
“Cuba is open to anyone who wants to sell us fuel,” the minister said.
The United Nations last week criticized the blockade, calling it illegal and saying it “impedes the Cuban people’s right to development while undermining their rights to food, education, health, and water and sanitation.”
Protests and blackouts
The blockade has disrupted public services and disrupted daily life on the island of about 10 million people, with blackouts increasing this week.
The minister said that many districts of the capital Havana remain without electricity for up to 20 hours a day. The latest power outages were reported Thursday in parts of eastern Cuba. Blackouts could last for several days in many provinces.
Protests broke out on Wednesday in Havana, which is also struggling with food and medicine shortages.
Reuters news agency, citing witnesses, reported that a crowd of hundreds of people took to the streets on the outskirts of Havana, blocking roads by burning piles of garbage, banging utensils and shouting “Turn on the lights!”
America’s pressure on Havana
Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January, Trump has argued that the US could “occupy” Cuba. Maduro was an important supporter of the regime in Havana.
On Wednesday, the US State Department again offered $100 million (€84.86 million) in humanitarian aid to the Cuban people “which will be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and other credible humanitarian independent organizations.”
“It is up to the Cuban regime to decide whether to accept our offer of assistance or refuse critical life-saving assistance, and ultimately to hold the Cuban people accountable for standing in the way of critical assistance,” a State Department statement said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Wednesday blamed a “genocidal energy blockade” imposed by the US for Cuba’s problems.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American and a staunch critic of the government founded by Fidel Castro, said Cuba’s problems were based on systemic corruption at the hands of the military.
“This is a broken, non-functional economy and it’s impossible to change,” Rubio told US broadcaster Fox News earlier this week. “I don’t think that as long as these people are in charge in that regime, we will be able to change the trajectory of Cuba.”
Edited by: Wesley Dockery