Cubans are bracing for impact after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to cut off a lifeline of Venezuelan oil from reaching Cuba, setting up a siege scenario for an island already reeling from crippling blackouts and shortages.
– Venezuela, once the island’s top supplier, has not sent crude or fuel to Cuba for about a month.
– Cargoes falling off due to a U.S. blockade even before the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in early January.
– The last cargo for refining on the island was sent from PDVSA’s Jose port in mid-December onboard a tanker that sailed with its transponder off, carrying some 600,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude.
– In 2025, Venezuela was Cuba’s largest oil supplier with 26,500 barrels per day (bpd), or roughly one third of the island’s daily needs, followed by Mexico with some 5,000 bpd.
– Trump has made no secret of his expectation that the recent U.S. intervention in Venezuela could push Cuba over the edge, but in recent days he has doubled down on the communist-run island, pushing the neighboring nation on Sunday to strike a deal “before it is too late.”
– Much of rural Cuba, in far-flung provinces with little economic output, already resembles a caricature of 19th-century life.
– Horse-drawn carriages and bicycles provide transportation in many villages and even in urban areas. The internet falters often, if it works at all, and electricity is fleeting, with more hours without power than with it.
– Many city residents report that blackouts have subsided somewhat in early January amid decreased power demand since a peak in December, and gasoline and diesel service at the pump, while rationed in the peso currency, continues unabated.
– There is no public information about how much oil Cuba may be holding in reserve. It is also unclear whether Cuba’s political allies would be willing to risk Trump’s ire to help bail out Cuba.
– A tanker bound from Mexico, the Ocean Mariner, arrived in Havana on Friday, carrying some 85,000 barrels of fuel from the state company Pemex’s terminal of Pajaritos/Coatzacoalcos.
– Mexico’s contribution, albeit a fraction of Venezuela’s former exports, is far from enough to keep the lights on across the island of around 10 million inhabitants, a concern not lost on many Cubans.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/clock-ticks-cuba-trump-cuts-off-venezuelan-oil-2026-01-13