Cuba - National Blackout and Energy Crisis - March 2026

[Lyanna]

European groups join aid convoy to Cuba amid crippling oil blockade

Millions have been plunged into darkness in Cuba as the US's total blockade has meant no fuel shipments in three months.

www.aljazeera.com

https://www.ft.com/content/bdb055d0-62c3-445c-ba89-349c63c82c1f?syn-25a6b1a6=1

 

[Lyanna]

Millions without electricity as Cuba's power grid collapses

Cuba's chronic fuel shortages have been exacerbated by a US blockade on oil shipments to the island.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Lyanna]

Cuba’s lights begin to return, but its crisis is far from over

Power supply slowly resuming in Havana; but the country's deeper crisis in relations with the US is endemic, long-term.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[tlcya]

My boss's wife is a music professor who travels several time a year to Cuba as part of a musical teaching exchange. She has been so worried for her friends living there. This isn't just a matter of a blackout. What she is hearing from those friends is no medicines, no transportation, no gas, no water, no food, no garbage pickup. Humanitarian services that have been blocked or are not able to be transported to those who desperately need them. Illnesses that cannot be treated because treatment is not available and/or transportation to medical care is not available. No soaps, no toothpaste.

There is no water because there is no electricity to run the pumps. There is no electricity, no food, no oil, no fuel, and private businesses have high prices because everything is going up now, since they have to move their goods by truck and transport. All of this is really very bad."
Millions without electricity as Cuba's power grid collapses

 

[Lyanna]

My boss's wife is a music professor who travels several time a year to Cuba as part of a musical teaching exchange. She has been so worried for her friends living there. This isn't just a matter of a blackout. What she is hearing from those friends is no medicines, no transportation, no gas, no water, no food, no garbage pickup. Humanitarian services that have been blocked or are not able to be transported to those who desperately need them. Illnesses that cannot be treated because treatment is not available and/or transportation to medical care is not available. No soaps, no toothpaste.

There is no water because there is no electricity to run the pumps. There is no electricity, no food, no oil, no fuel, and private businesses have high prices because everything is going up now, since they have to move their goods by truck and transport. All of this is really very bad."
Millions without electricity as Cuba's power grid collapses

It’s awful. Again, so many innocent people suffering and for what?


moo

 

[Lyanna]

Trump and Rubio call for new Cuban leaders as latest blackout underscores deepening economic crisis

U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are calling for new people in charge of Cuba as the socialist island experiences its third nationwide blackout in four months.

apnews.com

 

[tlcya]

The lives of everyday Cubans have been upended and now revolve around when they have a few hours of power. But among the most vulnerable on the island are those who are dealing with illnesses.

Staff at the Institute of Hematology and Immunology have had to strategize, reorganize and be flexible with schedules and work hours. The laboratories used to work five days a week. Now they’re down to two days in order to save fuel.

One of the greatest challenges for patients is access to transport from their homes. Some rely on electric tricycles or are fortunate enough to have someone take them to the hospital. Others are forced to pay a taxi, but rides' prices are out of reach to the average Cuban.
In a Cuban hospital, patients and doctors are hard hit by outages and fuel shortages

 

[Lyanna]

First delegation of Nuestra America Convoy arrives in Cuba

THE first delegation taking part in an international effort to deliver aid to the crisis-hit nation of Cuba has arrived in the country

www.thenational.scot

 

[Lyanna]

The Crisis in Cuba, Explained

Here’s what to know about the energy, economic, and political crises surrounding Cuba—and the role of Trump and the U.S.

time.com

 

[otto]

"Juan Carlos Pino, a Cuban mechanic with an eighth-grade education, may have found a way to outsmart the U.S. oil blockade.

Employing the kind of ingenuity many Cubans have developed over decades of U.S. ‌sanctions, Pino, 56, modified his 1980 Polish-built Fiat Polski to run on charcoal, a cheaper and more abundant fuel than gasoline since Washington cut off oil shipments to the Caribbean island in January.

Pino built the contraption from his workshop in Aguacate, population 5,000, a town about 70 kilometres east of Havana that once thrived on a now-shuttered sugar refinery."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-mechanic-charcoal-powered-car-9.7135240

 

[otto]

Trump floats 'friendly takeover' of Cuba. What's his endgame?
Clearing a path for U.S. companies to profit could be bigger objective than ousting Cuban regime

"U.S. President Donald Trump is musing about a "friendly takeover of Cuba" as his administration tightens its economic squeeze on the island's communist government.

Trump has moved to choke off much of Cuba's supply of crude oil, decimating the island's tourist industry and putting mounting pressure on the Cuban government to make some sort of deal with the White House.

"They're in a big deal of trouble," ‌Trump said Friday in Washington. "They have ⁠no money. They have ⁠no anything right now, ⁠but ⁠they're talking with us, and maybe ⁠we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba."
...

Trump's objective in Cuba may be similar to what he's aiming to achieve in Venezuela: opening up the country to U.S. business interests."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-us-cuba-strategy-9.7095719

 

[PatLaurel]

"Juan Carlos Pino, a Cuban mechanic with an eighth-grade education, may have found a way to outsmart the U.S. oil blockade.

Employing the kind of ingenuity many Cubans have developed over decades of U.S. ‌sanctions, Pino, 56, modified his 1980 Polish-built Fiat Polski to run on charcoal, a cheaper and more abundant fuel than gasoline since Washington cut off oil shipments to the Caribbean island in January.

Pino built the contraption from his workshop in Aguacate, population 5,000, a town about 70 kilometres east of Havana that once thrived on a now-shuttered sugar refinery."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-mechanic-charcoal-powered-car-9.7135240

Gotta love Cubans' ingenuity! They are truly the most resilient, resourceful, and creative people in the world!
And I miss a "Polaquito" so much!

MOO JMO

 

[PatLaurel]

Trump floats 'friendly takeover' of Cuba. What's his endgame?
Clearing a path for U.S. companies to profit could be bigger objective than ousting Cuban regime

"U.S. President Donald Trump is musing about a "friendly takeover of Cuba" as his administration tightens its economic squeeze on the island's communist government.

Trump has moved to choke off much of Cuba's supply of crude oil, decimating the island's tourist industry and putting mounting pressure on the Cuban government to make some sort of deal with the White House.

"They're in a big deal of trouble," ‌Trump said Friday in Washington. "They have ⁠no money. They have ⁠no anything right now, ⁠but ⁠they're talking with us, and maybe ⁠we'll have a friendly takeover of Cuba."
...

Trump's objective in Cuba may be similar to what he's aiming to achieve in Venezuela: opening up the country to U.S. business interests."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-us-cuba-strategy-9.7095719

Basically back to the early 20th century... Not good for the Cuban "de a pie".

MOO JMO

 

[PrairieWind]

Hopefully good days are soon to be found for Cubans.

 

[303gmf]

Hopefully good days are soon to be found for Cubans.

Any proof Trump cares about the Cuban people?

 

[PrairieWind]

Any proof Trump cares about the Cuban people?

Any proof the Cuban government of the last 50 years cared?

 

[303gmf]

Any proof the Cuban government of the last 50 years cared?

Looks similar to what T wants for America, dictatorship and stripping wealth. It’s not a humanitarian cause by any stretch

 

[otto]

"The United States has told Cuba that for meaningful progress to be made in negotiations, President Miguel Díaz-Canel must step down, said people familiar with the talks.
...

The ouster of the top official in Cuba’s leadership would give President Trump a symbolic win that would allow him to tell the American public that he had brought down the leader of a leftist government long opposed to the United States, as he did in Venezuela, one of the people said.

The move, though intended to show the Cuban exile community and other Americans that the Trump administration seeks political as well as economic change, would likely disappoint many conservative Cuban exiles in the United States, who want to see wholesale political transformation in Cuba.
...

From the perspective of U.S. officials, the talks are focused on having Cuba gradually open its economy to American businesspeople and companies."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/world/americas/trump-cuba-president-diaz-canel.html

 

[Lyanna]

Are we allowed to post transcripts? Just read one from a podcast yesterday about Cuba, they talk about the impact having no oil to generate the grid is having. There’s 100,000 people waiting on surgeries in hospitals and they can’t do the surgery because of the power blackouts. That’s awful.
Then there’s care homes, what about those people? People who need specialised equipment that requires electricity
What about people needing oxygen machines?
What about people needing chemotherapy treatments/radiotherapy treatments?
No water
Food is spoiling - so no food
One person was charged $300 for a tank full of gas for their vehicle!

It’s every day people like any one of us on here who are suffering

Moo

 

[tlcya]

Gotta love Cubans' ingenuity! They are truly the most resilient, resourceful, and creative people in the world!
And I miss a "Polaquito" so much!

MOO JMO

necessity is, after all, the mother of invention.