Cuba’s energy crisis to worsen as donated Russian oil runs out, minister warns
Cuba’s serious energy problems are about to become even more critical, the country’s energy minister warned on Wednesday.
Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said in a special televised program on Wednesday night that the oil donated by Russia in late March had run out.
Speaking on Cuban state television, de la O Levy said, “The situation is very tense, the weather is getting hotter,” referring to the scorching summer months that increase energy demand on the Caribbean island.
In recent days, small groups of Cubans have been taking to the streets, often at night, banging pots and pans to protest prolonged power outages.
The dour official has repeatedly repeated that the oil reserves needed to power the island’s beleaguered power grid are nearly exhausted.
“We definitely don’t have diesel,” he said.
The communist-run island faced an oil blockade in January after the US attacked Cuba’s oil-rich ally Venezuela and the Trump administration declared that the Cuban government posed a threat to US national security.
Cuban officials say they have been cut off from all U.S. oil shipments for more than four months, except for a donated shipload of Russian oil.
The oil supply ran out in early May, and Cubans regularly experience power outages that last most of the day, if not all day.
An electric tricycle driver passes a gas station in Havana, Cuba. – Norlys Perez/Reuters
Some Cubans complain that they no longer get enough power to charge items like electric mopeds and even phones. Many people wake up in the middle of the night (for brief moments when electricity is available) to do basic tasks like doing laundry and cooking.
While De la O Levy said the island was increasingly using solar energy thanks to panels donated by China, he said cloud cover and weather conditions often meant the energy produced fluctuated greatly.
Since there are no costly batteries to store the electricity produced by the panels, they cannot provide any respite during night hours when demand is peak.
“In Havana, outages now exceed 20-22 hours a day,” De la O Levy said.
The Trump administration is trying to force the Cuban government to open the island politically and economically and remove senior leaders in order to lift economic sanctions.
President Donald Trump said the Cuban government was on the verge of collapse and was considering using military force to take the island.
Cuban officials angrily rejected the pressure campaign and vowed to resist any military intervention by force.
On Wednesday, a State Department news release said the United States offered $100 million in aid to the island to carry out “meaningful reforms of Cuba’s communist system.”
“It is up to the Cuban regime to decide whether to accept our offer of aid or to reject critical life-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical aid,” the statement said.
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