Havana (AFP) - The Cuban government announced on Friday a set of measures to confront the severe energy crisis that the country is suffering from in light of American pressure, including adopting a four-day work week and moving to remote work, leading to the closure of hotels.

Published on: 02/07/2026 - 09:07

Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Pérez Oliva Fraga said, speaking on state television, that these pressures "push us to take a series of decisions, the first goal of which is to ensure the continuity of our country and secure basic services without abandoning development."

Surrounded by a number of ministers, especially the ministers of labor, education, and transportation, he explained, “The fuel will be allocated to protect basic services for citizens and necessary economic activities.”

Among the announced measures are reducing the work week to four days in official departments and state companies, working remotely, imposing restrictions on the sale of fuel, limiting bus and train service, as well as temporarily closing some tourist facilities.

In the field of education, the duration of daily classes will be reduced, and education in universities will be conducted according to a semi-in-person system.

A bank employee told Agence France-Presse, requesting that his name not be revealed, “At my workplace, they asked everyone to return to their homes for a month,” explaining that under the measures announced on Friday, he would continue to receive his full wages for at least a month.

Pérez Oliva Fraga said that these measures will allow saving fuel for use in “food production and electricity generation” and will allow “maintaining basic activities that generate foreign currencies.”

But he stressed that investments in renewable energies will be maintained and that the country will continue its efforts to increase national oil production, which represents 30% of its consumption.

Cuba has established 49 photovoltaic stations across the country during the year 2025, allowing solar energy production to increase from 3% two years ago to 10% now.

'A difficult period'

President Miguel Diaz-Canel said Thursday during a televised press conference that the country, with a population of 9.6 million people, is going through a "difficult phase."

He explained that the government adopted a "reference" that was the directives issued by former leader Fidel Castro during the years of the serious economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba's largest ally, in 1991.

Many Cubans still remember that “special phase” that witnessed power outages of about 15 hours a day, food shortages, factories stopping work, and deserted streets or empty except for bicycles.

The island's economy, which has been subject to an ongoing US embargo since 1962, began to revive in 1997, benefiting from the development of tourism and foreign investments.

In 2000, the country signed a cooperation agreement with Venezuela during the era of President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), which provided for the supply of oil in exchange for Havana sending doctors, professors, and other professionals.

However, these supplies were completely stopped after US special forces arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during an operation carried out in early January in Caracas, while US President Donald Trump intensified pressure on the communist island, which has been suffering from a severe economic crisis that has been going on for six years.

Trump signed a decree stipulating the possibility of imposing strict customs duties on countries that sell oil to Havana. He also confirmed that Mexico, which has been supplying Cuba with oil since 2023, will stop its supplies.

Washington justifies its policy by stressing that the island, which is only 150 kilometers from the coast of Florida, poses an “exceptional danger” to American national security.

The Cuban government accuses Washington, which does not hide its desire for regime change in Havana, of seeking to "stifle" its economy.

© 2026 AFP

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