The Real Cuba News and Commentary

Cuba runs short on fuel at pump as energy crisis festers


HAVANA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Cubans still reeling from months of hours-long blackouts now have a new problem on their hands: fuel shortages.

Many gas stations across the island have been shuttered for days as an unusually severe shortfall has left the nation nearly devoid of gasoline and diesel, stranding motorists and sprouting seemingly interminable lines at the pump in Havana.

"We have been waiting for a fuel truck to arrive for three days," said Armando Corrales from the driver's seat of his gray Kia SUV at a gas station in the capital. "People have slept here in line so they don't lose their spot."


Cuba: High prices, lines and shortages

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In Cuba, the socialist project begun by revolutionary and former president Fidel Castro is teetering on the verge of failure. The nation is sinking deeper into crisis, with many people’s daily lives marred by shortages of food, medicine and electricity.

Cuba has been subject to sanctions for decades. Despite recent attempts at reform, the country is increasingly isolated and economically dependent. A currency reform enacted in 2021 is also causing major problems, with inflation soaring and prices skyrocketing. Food is scarce, and lines in front of the few state-run stores are getting longer and longer.

Poverty is on the rise. Even the famous ingenuity of the Cuban people is reaching its limits as they try to cope with the day-to-day effects of the crisis. Images of bygone revolutionaries are fading in the streets the capital, Havana, and all over the island. Official voices continue to broadcast the state’s ideology, but ordinary people are losing hope that things will improve.


Millions remain without power in Cuba after latest power grid failure Island nation generating electricity to cover roughly one-sixth of peak demand as of late Wednesday

Cuba says it was generating only enough electricity to cover about one-sixth of peak demand late on Wednesday, hours after its national grid collapsed leaving millions without power.

The National Electric Union (UNE) said it was producing 533 megawatts of electricity by evening, still just a fraction of typical dinnertime demand of between 3,000 and 3,200 megawatts, leaving most Cubans in the dark as night fell across the Caribbean island.

Earlier, the communist-run government said it would prioritize returning power to hospitals and water pumping facilities. Schools and non-essential government services were closed until further notice.

Lights flickered on across parts of the capital Havana late on Wednesday. The local electric company said more than 260,000 clients had seen power restored.

It was the latest in a string of countrywide blackouts of Cuba's antiquated and increasingly frail power generation system. This year, Cuba's grid fell into near-total disarray, stressed by fuel shortages, natural disaster and economic crisis.


Dwindling oil imports from Venezuela, Russia and Mexico pushed the island's obsolete and struggling oil-fired power plants into full crisis several months ago.

Hours-long rolling blackouts and severe shortages of food, medicine and water have made life increasingly hard for many Cubans, who in recent years have fled the island in record-breaking numbers.

Cuba blames U.S. sanctions, which complicate financial transactions and the purchase of fuel, for the crisis.