The US fuel embargo has affected all sectors of Cuba. Cuba, with a population of around 11 million, has been facing daily life problems since January, including load shedding, the need to cook rice with firewood, and the closure of public transport.

Satellite images have shown that light levels in the Cuban capital Havana have dropped by up to 50 percent at night. 

The country's health sector is now on the verge of collapse, said Health Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda. He said hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands of lives are at risk. Health officials say fuel shortages have forced ambulance services to be cut and surgeries have been canceled due to load shedding. 

Portal said that 500,000 Cubans with chronic illnesses are experiencing problems with their medication or treatment. 16,000 cancer patients requiring radiotherapy and 12,400 patients undergoing chemotherapy are also affected. 

"The most affected are cardiac care, orthopedics, oncology and the treatment of critically ill patients requiring electrical backup. Kidney disease treatment and emergency ambulance services are also affected," he said.

Several airlines cut service to the island in early February because there was not enough fuel to fill jets. Since then, the transportation of essential goods to the tourist area has been affected. 

“The US sanctions are not only weakening the island’s economy. They are also jeopardizing basic human security,” Health Minister Miranda told the Associated Press.

Cuba’s bad days began when the US invaded Venezuela earlier this year and seized power in the country, ousting President Nicolas Maduro.

“Cuba had been stockpiling large quantities of oil in December, in anticipation of the growing US military presence in the Caribbean,” Rohit Rathore, senior oil analyst at Vortexa Ltd., told Bloomberg. “But January was the worst month in a decade, when Cuba did not receive any oil at all.”

Cuba, Venezuela’s closest ally, had sent about 25,000 troops there. 32 Cuban soldiers were also killed in the US attack. Following Maduro’s defeat, US President Donald Trump is now pressuring Venezuela’s interim government.  He has ordered a halt to oil aid to Cuba from Venezuela. 

The US Navy has a strong presence around the Caribbean.  The New York Times, based on analysis of oil shipping data and satellite images, said most of Cuba’s tankers have been stranded on the coast for months. The US has reportedly been closely monitoring and blocking some ships trying to transport oil to Cuba and has seized some ships. 

Cuba, with a population of about 11 million, produces only 40 percent of its total oil consumption. According to SP Global, in 2025, Cuba supplied an average of 1.2 million barrels of oil per month. Of this, 61 percent came from Venezuela, 25 percent from Mexico, 10 percent from Russia, and 4 percent from Algeria.

Following the attack on Venezuela, Trump also threatened to raise tariffs on oil exports to Mexico. As a result, Mexico also cut oil sales. Since then, Cuba's economy has been in a state of disarray. 

Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez Oliva Fraga said on state television on February 7 that some emergency regulations had been implemented to deal with the crisis. Since then, government agencies have only worked four days a week.

Main tourist areas have been closed. School hours have been reduced.  Many universities are promoting online classes. “The limited fuel will be spent on emergency services and important economic activities,” Perez Oliva said. “This is an opportunity and a challenge. We hope we will overcome it. We will not collapse.”

Cuba said that the available fuel would be used for public health, food production and security. Similarly, it requested the use of solar lamps as much as possible. Recreational activities such as sports and cultural events were stopped. 

Russia stepped in to help 

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez went to Moscow last week to seek help in the crisis. Where, Russia pledged its continued support for Cuba. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new US sanctions were reprehensible. 

A Russian ship is currently en route to Cuba to defy the US sanctions, according to US media outlet Bloomberg. According to data from maritime intelligence company Kepler Ltd., the ship is expected to arrive in Cuba in early March.

The ship, called the Sea Horse, is carrying essential fuel to Cuba. Matt Smith, Kepler's chief oil analyst, said that the Sea Horse, which left the coast of Cyprus, may have been carrying about 200,000 barrels of Russian gas oil (diesel). It is used in transportation and power generation. 

It is also unclear whether the Sea Horse can break the US blockade. Since the Russia-Ukraine war, the US and its European allies have imposed various sanctions on Russia. They have also seized various tankers that Russia sends under pseudonyms. Therefore, Bloomberg's analysis is that the Sea Horse's journey will be a test in itself. 

Mexico, which is facing threats from US President Donald Trump, also sent food and relief supplies to Cuba last week. The Cuban government has expressed gratitude on behalf of the Cuban people for this.

US-Cuban relations

In the 1959 Cuban revolution, a leftist group led by Fidel Castro overthrew US-backed military ruler Fulgencio Batista. Cuba has had a communist government since then.

Relations with the US have been strained. Castro's move to become closer to Russia during the Cold War further shocked the US. Castro nationalized US-owned assets. In response, the US imposed a complete embargo that has not been lifted. Diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US have also ended since then.

In the following years, Cuba feared that the US might intervene. In October 1962, the United States learned that the Soviet Union had deployed missiles in Cuba, bringing the world's two superpowers to the brink of war. The crisis, which lasted for about 13 days, threatened to lead to a nuclear war. After the United States promised not to invade Cuba, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba. 

Cuba faced a brief crisis after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. However, the country's economy was buoyed by its tourism and good relations with its neighbors outside the United States. In 2014, Washington and Havana restored diplomatic relations after 50 years. In 2016, US President Barack Obama visited Havana and met with Raul Castro.

He promised to ease some sanctions. However, relations with Cuba deteriorated again with the arrival of Trump in 2017.  The Trump administration reimposed tough economic sanctions.

After Joe Biden became president, a policy of promoting dialogue and cooperation with countries in the Caribbean and the Americas, including Cuba, and non-interference in their internal affairs was put forward. This was a continuation of the policy of the Obama administration. However, in 2025, Trump announced that he would reverse this policy shortly after taking office for a second term.

He has said that America's dominance in the Western Hemisphere should remain. He believes that Cuba should not have close relations with China and Russia. He has been saying that the collapse of the current communist government would be good for Cuba. However, he has said that he will not intervene militarily even if economic pressure is put on Cuba. 'My opinion is that it would be good if the government collapsed. I don't think it should be collapsed,' he said some time ago. Similarly, last week he said that Cuba has become a failed state.