Cuba restores power and vows unyielding resistance to US oil blockade
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel gestures during the second plenary session of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 6, 2025.
Pablo Porciuncula | Afp | Getty Images
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Wednesday lashed out at “almost daily” threats from the United States and vowed to meet the Trump administration’s move to cut off the island’s fuel supplies with “unyielding resistance.”
The comments came after the communist-ruled island nation of about 10 million people partially reconnected its power grid on Tuesday evening, energy officials said. in questionFollowing a nationwide power outage that reportedly lasted more than 29 hours.
Cuba’s power grid operator UNE said on social media that it was gradually restoring electricity to all provinces and cities across the country, without providing further details about the cause of the power grid collapse.
Located just 90 miles from Florida, the country now faces its greatest test. Collapse of the Soviet Union.
The United States has maintained an oil blockade of the island since January, shortly after its ally and a major oil supplier, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was captured in a bold military operation.
US President Donald Trump called his government “effectively cutting off Cuba from Venezuelan oil.”an unusual and extraordinary threat“and has promised to impose tariffs on any country that supplies it with oil.
Trump has repeatedly spoken in recent days about the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of Havana and said the White House could turn its eye to Cuba after the Iran war. The US president also said he could do anything he wanted with the country, adding that he thought he would have the “honor” of “taking Cuba”.
According to the national power company, Cuba suffered a widespread power outage on March 16, 2026, amid a serious crisis caused by the US energy blockade on the island.
Yamil Lage | Afp | Getty Images
Cuba’s Díaz-Canel was harshly criticized US threats against Havana in social media post.
“They plan to announce plans to take over the country, its resources, its properties and even the economy that they are trying to strangle to force us to surrender,” Díaz-Canel said on X on Wednesday, according to Google’s translation.
“This is the only way to explain the violent economic war waged as a collective punishment against the entire population. Faced with the worst-case scenario, #Cuba is guided by a single certainty: Any external aggressor will meet stubborn resistance.”
Cuba’s president last week confirmed talks between the country’s government and the Trump administration but warned that any prospect of a deal would likely take some time.
‘Discontent is increasing’
In addition to adopting domestic energy rationing measures, the Cuban government has sought to significantly increase solar energy production due to ongoing fuel shortages.
But analysts have warned that Cuba’s push towards renewables could ultimately be a “too little, too late” situation, given the country’s years of failure to diversify its energy mix.
“With Cuba’s power grid on the brink of complete collapse, there is a risk that events will spill over into both the regime and Washington. Although loyalist security forces have the capacity to quell unrest at current levels, discontent is gaining momentum,” he added.
“The U.S. game plan for Cuba is unclear and could easily be determined by rapidly evolving events rather than strategy,” Robert Munks, head of Americas research at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, said in a research note.
Russia, an ally of Cuba for decades, demanded Tuesday: reaffirmed its commitment Assisting authorities in Havana amid the country’s economic crisis.
