Cuba expects a blackout in 56% of its territory during the hours of greatest energy demand this February 17, but darkness is also looming in the industrial field, after the Canadian mining company Sherritt paralyzed operations due to lack of fuel. The blackout is also political, because while Donald Trump assures that there are already talks for an agreement, he also describes the country as a “humanitarian threat.”

First modification: 02/18/2026 - 00:25Last modification: 02/18/2026 - 18:06

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A blackout in 56% of the Cuban territory is expected during the hours of greatest energy demand this February 17. Between the late afternoon and early evening, isolated service interruptions will intensify, according to the forecast of the state Electrical Union (UNE).

The energy company warned that the maximum demand at that time is estimated at 3,200 megawatts (MW), but the generation capacity of the impoverished national electrical infrastructure is only 1,440 MW.

Only eight of the 16 thermoelectric production units are operational, while the rest are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance, amid a worsening fuel shortage and the crisis in access to foreign currency, for which the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel blames US sanctions.

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The Cuban economy has contracted 15% since 2020 as a result of the deterioration of the national electrical grid and this setback will only worsen in the coming days, while Donald Trump's Government closes the entry of oil to the island.

This February 17, the Canadian mining company Sherritt, which exploits nickel and cobalt in the town of Moa, announced that it will stop its operations next week, as a result of the lack of fuel.

Sherritt, which maintains one of the largest foreign investments in Cuba, reported that "it plans to pause its mining operations and put the processing plant on standby during the next week", time that will be used for maintenance work.

The company added that its refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, has enough raw material reserves to continue operating normally until mid-April.

But regarding extraction in Cuba, he is waiting to have "greater certainty about the supply chain and the schedule to fully resume operations."

Trump: “There are already conversations”

US President Donald Trump, who has threatened punitive tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba, assured journalists aboard Air Force One on February 16 that there are already ongoing talks with Cuban authorities, which would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Trump did not give details about Rubio's interlocutors in these exchanges, nor about the agreements that would be discussed, but he ruled out for the moment that it is planned to proceed on the island as was done in Venezuela, where an operation by elite forces carried out the extraction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

"We'll see how everything ends, but Cuba and we are talking. Meanwhile, there is an embargo, there is no money, there is no oil, there is nothing," said the Republican president, who did not want to comment on the possibility of an attack like the one that occurred in Caracas.

"I don't want to answer that. Why would I answer that? If it were, it wouldn't be a very tough operation, as you can imagine. But I don't think it's necessary," Trump said when asked.

The US president once again referred to Cuba as a "failed nation": "They don't even have jet fuel for their planes to take off, they are blocking the runway. We are talking to Cuba right now, and Marco Rubio talking to Cuba right now, and they should absolutely reach an agreement. Because it really is a humanitarian threat," he concluded.

Kast opposes aid announced by Boric

Leaders close to Trump, such as the far-right president-elect of Chile, José Antonio Kast, or the Costa Rican president, Rodrigo Chaves, have avoided joining the voices calling for a more humanitarian approach to the Cuban situation.

Kast criticized the outgoing Chilean president, Gabriel Boric, for his announcement to send humanitarian aid to the island: "I do not agree with giving direct economic aid to a government that has generated a dictatorship for more than 60 years and that has put the Cuban people in a very disadvantaged, inhuman situation."

Chaves, for his part, limited himself to instructing his Foreign Ministry to accelerate the departure of his nationals from the island. The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry issued a bulletin in which it asked its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Cuba and recommended the immediate departure of those who are still there.

The statement urges Costa Ricans to take advantage of the few commercial flights that are still leaving the island, because it recognizes that "it does not have the necessary economic or material resources" to plan repatriation flights financed by the State.

Spain and Mexico extend their hands

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, confirmed this February 17 that her country will send a new aid package to Cuba, which will include food and “other requests” made by the authorities in Havana, to alleviate the needs of the population.

Sheinbaum clarified that the assistance will not include fuel, but ratified his disagreement with the imposition of an energy blockade against the island.

"We protect the people of Mexico and our country, we express that we do not agree and we continue to help the Cuban people in different ways," Sheinbaum said in his usual morning press conference.

Two Mexican ships with 814 tons of food and other forms of humanitarian aid arrived in Cuba last week. At the moment, it is not known when the new shipment of assistance will fill.

For its part, the Spanish Government announced that it will send the equivalent of one million euros in food and health items to meet the needs of the island.

"Given the tightening of the embargo on Cuba and to alleviate the needs of the brotherly Cuban people, Spain is giving an emergency response," reported Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares in an audio message, in which he added that the aid will be channeled through the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

A tanker from the ghost fleet arrives despite the siege

The EFE agency reported on February 16 that a tanker with the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines docked in the port of Matanzas, which is not part of the vessels sanctioned by the United States, but was under "active surveillance" for an environmental crime and for having been linked to the "energy bridge" between Cuba and Venezuela.

The ship Nicos I.V. 183 meters long, with a capacity for 300,000 barrels, it appears to be partially loaded, although it is unknown what type of fuel and how much it is transporting.

If it is confirmed that it comes from a port outside Cuba, it would be the first tanker to arrive on the island since January 9, when the Ocean Mariner docked from Mexico, with some 85,000 barrels on board.

The United States has been pursuing and seizing sanctioned vessels as a way to control the destination of Venezuelan oil shipments.

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