“We are living in what is almost a mass extermination camp.” Those are the words of a Cuban mother of three.
The night before, she watched neighbours cooking with firewood in the middle of the street and on their balconies, burning sticks collected from nearby trees to prepare a meal.
That day her family ate only bread. “Thank goodness I was able to find bread,” she said, asking not to be named for fear of Cuba’s repressive regime.
It’s one of the worst crises to hit the island for decades. Severe shortages of fuel, food and electricity have paralysed basic services, forcing hospitals to carry out only emergency operations. Most transport has stopped.
At night, the island is almost entirely in darkness. Only a few scattered pockets of light remain in Havana. Abandoned cars and trucks now litter the roads, long out of fuel. Universities, secondary schools and non-essential state offices have closed.
For decades the island has struggled with fuel shortages and US sanctions. The economy has been in freefall since the pandemic, with the downturn worsened by hyperinflation and the emigration of nearly 20% of the population.
But it has been pushed to collapse by Donald Trump’s decision in January to slap trade tariffs on any country supplying Cuba with oil. His actions against Venezuela also stopped shipments of its subsidised oil to Cuba.
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None of Cuba’s traditional partners – Mexico, Russia, China, Vietnam or Iran – have filled the energy gap.
Mexico has stopped sending oil tankers, opting instead to dispatch food and other supplies. Chile, Spain and Canada have also announced humanitarian shipments, while Uruguay says it is considering similar assistance – but none have offered energy support.
Nearby countries have also begun tightening restrictions. Guatemala ended its deal to host Cuban doctors – a key source of foreign currency for Havana – while Nicaragua, a longtime ally, blocked visa-free entry for Cubans amid fears of a migration surge.
Elaine Acosta González, executive director of the Cuban civil society organisation Cuido60, said that the current living conditions on the island were probably the “most difficult Cubans have faced since 1959”. The island’s GDP has contracted by 15% over the past five years.
“Public transport has essentially come to a halt, many hospitals are only providing emergency services, a lot of doctors can’t even get to the hospitals because they don’t have transport to get there,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
Drivers are limited to just 20 litres of fuel, payable only in US dollars, and must join a government app-based queue that can stretch to more than 10,000 people, leaving many waiting days – or even weeks – for half a tank.
Trump, whose policies appear designed to collapse the island’s state socialist system, has declared that “Cuba is ready to fall”. On Friday he said: “I’m going to put Marco (Rubio) over there and we’ll see how that works out.”
Officials initially believed cutting off Cuba’s access to oil could give the US leverage over the government in Havana – potentially forcing political concessions or even triggering some form of regime change.
But such a scenario could leave the US facing the difficult task of managing the aftermath – from stabilising a collapsing state to dealing with a potential surge of refugees, a prospect that could carry major political consequences in a US midterm election year.
The Cuban government has condemned Trump’s policies as “inhumane, cruel and illegal under international law”.
“What right does a world power have to deny fuel and the ability to function to a smaller nation?” asked the president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Still much of the blame for the country’s problems is being levelled at the Cuban government. “It does not care,” said the mother of three.
In recent weeks the US Department of the Treasury has appeared to backtrack somewhat, saying it would allow the sale of some Venezuelan oil to Cuba for “commercial and humanitarian use”, and allow companies to send fuel to private businesses in Cuba.
“I think what sets us apart is that we Cubans are very resilient. We always find alternatives to survive,” said the mother in Havana. “But that doesn’t take away the hopelessness.”
Harriet Barber covers human rights abuses, migration, women’s rights and politics in South America
