Protests Erupt in Cuba as the Country Runs Out of Fuel

Protests broke out Thursday night in Havana after the Cuban government said the island had exhausted its supplies of diesel and fuel oil, deepening a severe electricity crisis across the cash-strapped Caribbean nation.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said Wednesday that Cuba had “absolutely no” reserves of either fuel, blaming the Trump administration for blocking oil imports to the country. President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the situation “particularly tense” and said that the “genocidal U.S. blockade” was part of an attempt to “destroy the Revolution.”

Images shared on social media showed residents in Havana banging pots, lighting street fires, and blocking roads amid prolonged blackouts. Some areas of the country have been without power for a full day.

Cuba has struggled with worsening power outages as its oil supplies have dwindled. The country is heavily reliant on fuel imports, and its aging power grid was failing even before the U.S. cut off access to oil from abroad.