President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Thursday the United States should lift its blockade on Cuba rather than send aid to the troubled island as the country faces growing power outages.
Cuba’s energy crisis has deepened since January when the United States imposed an oil blockade on the communist island of 9.6 million people.
Only one Russian tanker has since made it through, power outages and supply shortages have become the norm, and Cuban officials say the country’s oil reserves have been depleted.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has again offered $100 million in aid, on the condition that it bypasses the government and is distributed by the Catholic Church.
Diaz-Canel posted on X urging the United States to lift its blockade.
“The damage can be mitigated in a simpler and quicker way by lifting or easing the lockdown, as humanitarian situations are known to be coldly calculated and triggered,” he said.
But he added that if Washington showed a “real willingness” to provide aid, “it would not encounter any obstacles or ingratitude on the part of Cuba.”
– “Turn on the lights!” –
Eastern Cuba was hit by the latest blackout affecting the country on Thursday, with power restored to some areas later in the day.
Energy Minister Vincent De Lao Levy told state television on Wednesday that oil reserves provided by Russia were now “depleted” and called the situation “very tense.”
“Temperatures continue to rise and the impact of the lockdown is really hurting us significantly… because we still haven’t received fuel.”
The power crisis sparked protests on the island.
People protested by banging pots and pans on Wednesday night, a resident of the Havana suburb of San Miguel del Padron told AFP.
Several other similar small demonstrations were held in communities across the capital, according to reports gathered by AFP.
“Turn on the lights!” shouted residents in Praia, west of the city.
Prolonged blackouts and record power generation shortfalls have been seen in recent days, with 65% of Cuba experiencing simultaneous blackouts on Tuesday, data compiled by AFP showed.
Power outages lasted more than 19 hours a day in Havana and lasted throughout the day in several provinces.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who has deposed Venezuela’s leftist leaders since the start of the year with little success in his war against Iran, is beginning to think that Cuba could be next and the U.S. could take over the island.
“This is a broken, dysfunctional economy and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” Rubio told Fox News.
“I don’t think we can change the trajectory of Cuba as long as these people are in power.”
Johor Bahru/cc/bgs
This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
