The government of Cuba announces that the island has exhausted all its fuel reserves
The senior official admitted that the situation on the island is
Cuba has ran completely without diesel and fuel oil, admitted the Minister of Energy, Vicente de la Levy.
In an interview with state media, De la Levy stated that gas reserves were limited and that the Cuban energy system was in contraba in a critical situation due to the oil blockade imposed by the United States, which has drastically reduced imports.
On Wednesday isolated protests were registered in Havana, the capital, against electricity cuts, according to the Reuters news agency.
This week, the US reiterated its offer to send US$100 million in aid to Cuba in exchange for “significant reforms to the Cuban communist system.”
“The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fueloil, of which we have absolutely nothing; diesel, of which neither We have absolutely nothing—I repeat—, the only thing we have is gas from our wells, whose production has increased,” declared Dela O Levy.
“We have absolutely no fuel, we have absolutely no diesel,” the official insisted.
Both diesel and fuel oil are fundamental to power the thermoelectric plants that sustain the Cuban energy system, reviewed the digital media “Cibercuba”.
Under the US blockade, some areas of Havana have suffered blackouts of between 20 and 22 hours, he continued.
The minister also recognized that the situation in the country is “extremely tense”.
Hospitals have not been able to function normally, while schools and government offices have been forced to close. Tourism, Cuba's economic engine, has also been affected.
Normally, Cuba depends on Venezuela and Mexico to supply oil to its refinery system. However, both countries have stopped those shipments.
Venezuela cut its hydrocarbon exports to the island after the U.S. military operation that deposed Nicolás Maduro on January 3 , and Mexico after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries supplying fuel to Cuba.
So far this year, only one Russian ship with 100,000 barrels of crude oil has arrived in Cuba, but indicated that those reserves have already been exhausted, Dela O Levy revealed.
Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that Havana had rejected a US offer of humanitarian aid worth US$100 million, a claim that Cuba denied.
The State Department reiterated its offer on Wednesday, indicating that humanitarian assistance would be distributed in coordination with the Catholic Church and “trusted” humanitarian organizations.
“The decision lies with the Cuban regime: accept our offer of assistance or deny vital aid to save lives and, ultimately, hold accountable to the Cuban people for hindering such assistance,” he added.
Washington's blockade against the country intensified in early May, when the US imposed a series of sanctions on senior Cuban officials, accusing them of committing "human rights"violations.
The Cuban Minister of Foreign Relations, Bruno Rodríguez, qualified the new sanctions as “illegal and abusive”.

