While American pressure has intensified on Cuba since Washington's intervention in early January in Venezuela, its main oil supplier, the communist island began on Monday to apply emergency measures intended to save fuel.

Published on: 02/09/2026 - 7:20 p.m. Modified on: 02/09/2026 - 7:26 p.m.

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This is one of the worst energy crises in Cuban history. Havana began, Monday, February 9, to apply new emergency measures intended to save fuel to face the energy stranglehold imposed by the United States, which is hitting hard the daily lives of residents.

In the streets of the capital, traffic was less than usual for a Monday morning, AFP noted. In the central district of Vedado, the sidewalks usually full of residents coming to carry out administrative procedures were almost deserted.

Rosa Ramos, a 37-year-old nurse, has been waiting for more than an hour in the street to find a mode of transportation that will allow her to get to her work, a hospital located about ten kilometers away.

Read alsoAfter the capture of Maduro in Venezuela, Trump tempted by an operation in Cuba?

The measures announced by the government on Friday, which notably include a four-day week to save electricity, teleworking, as well as the rationing of the sale of fuel to individuals, "are measures of resistance", she said, "so that the country does not collapse".

“But at the same time, it causes a lot of uncertainty among the population because everyone wonders how long a country can live in such conditions,” she laments.

As of Monday, private taxi users noticed an increase in fares, going from 200 pesos (40 cents) to 350 pesos for certain journeys.

More than 800 tons of food sent from Mexico

The communist island, of 9.6 million inhabitants, finds itself in a particularly vulnerable situation since the end of oil supplies from Venezuela, under American pressure, and threats from Washington to impose customs duties on countries selling it oil.

Mexico, Cuba's second supplier until the fall of President Nicolas Maduro, has for the moment suspended its deliveries and is negotiating with Washington how to send oil to Havana, without suffering reprisals from its main trading partner.

On Monday, its president, Claudia Sheinbaum, deemed the American threat of customs duties “very unfair”. “We cannot strangle a people in this way,” she denounced.

Mexico announced on Sunday that it had sent more than 814 tons of food intended for the Cuban population on board two ships of its national navy.

Moscow also reacted on Monday, denouncing the “suffocating methods” of the United States which “cause a lot of difficulties for the country”. “The situation in Cuba is indeed critical,” declared Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, adding that Russia is in discussions with the Cuban authorities to provide assistance.

Washington's objective "as always, is to break the political will of the Cubans." “The situation is difficult and will require great sacrifices,” Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said.

Kerosene refueling suspended

A sign of the seriousness of the crisis, Cuban authorities informed airlines serving the country that kerosene refueling would be suspended for a month from midnight Monday, forcing companies operating long-haul flights to make a "technical stopover" on return flights to ensure their refueling. In the process, the airline Air Canada announced that it was suspending its flights to Cuba.

The government also announced the closure of certain low-occupancy hotels and the regrouping of tourists in others.

"Hotels are being closed in Varadero", Cuba's flagship seaside resort, located 150 km from Havana, "and in other provinces", confirmed to AFP a professional in the sector who did not wish to give her name.

Bus and train services between provinces have also been reduced, as have school days. Universities now operate remotely, as during the Covid-19 pandemic, or semi-face-to-face.

These measures should make it possible to save fuel to promote "the production of food and the production of electricity" and allow "the safeguarding of fundamental activities which generate foreign currency", declared Friday the Deputy Prime Minister, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, citing in particular the tobacco sector.

The measures taken by the Cuban government are reminiscent of those enacted during the "special period", the serious economic crisis which followed the fall in 1991 of the USSR, then the main supplier of oil to Cuba.

With AFP

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