Cuban drivers queue at a gas station.Image: keystone
Cuba is in the worst economic crisis in decades. The country has stopped receiving oil from Venezuela since December 2025, as US President Donald Trump ordered a complete blockade. An overview of the current situation in the island state.
Feb 10, 2026, 9:21 p.mFeb 10, 2026, 9:21 p.m
Oil embargo worsens economic crisis in Cuba
Washington has been putting considerable pressure on Cuba’s communist government for weeks. The country has not received oil from Venezuela since December, as US President Donald Trump ordered a complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers carrying supplies from the sister South American country. With the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by the US military on January 3, Havana lost an important ally.
Trump then threatened to impose tariffs on Cuba’s oil suppliers. Mexico, most recently Cuba’s largest oil supplier, stopped its deliveries. The oil embargo is a hard blow to Cuba’s severely ailing economy.
The backgrounds
Even before the US oil embargo, Cuba was in an economic crisis. Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva admits that the severe restrictions in the energy and food crisis are on the one hand a consequence of the US blockade, but on the other hand they are also a consequence of “internal deficits”. In doing so, he admits: The shortage economy in the socialist state is partly self-inflicted.
The Cubans have been suffering for years from the consequences of systematic mismanagement and the stricter policies of their powerful neighbor, the USA. Power outages are becoming more frequent, the electricity network is dilapidated due to a lack of investment, and there is a shortage of food and medicine. As a result of the crisis, fewer and fewer tourists are visiting the island.
Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio have wanted to see the regime in Cuba fall for some time. After Maduro’s kidnapping, Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said:
“The Cuban government is at its end and is on its last legs, on the verge of collapse. She should speak wisely to the President of the United States.”
Cuban government develops emergency plan
Fewer buses, restrictions at schools and universities and reduced vacation options for tourists: Cuba is taking drastic measures to save fuel. As the government of the socialist Caribbean island announced, economic life, including essential services, should be maintained.
Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva.Image: keystone
According to the government, in order to save energy, public administration should only operate from Monday to Thursday. Bus and train connections as well as ferry trips will be severely restricted. Civil servants can be transferred to other areas of activity to alleviate shortages in important economic sectors. The University of Havana announced that it would largely suspend in-person classes for 30 days.
Visitors from abroad are also partially affected. Tourism as an important source of foreign exchange must be protected, but supply will be concentrated on the holiday destinations with the highest demand, said Pérez-Oliva.
Mexico in a quandary
Mexico halted shipments to Cuba after Trump’s tariff threats. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum then stated:
“We are working diplomatically to be able to resume oil deliveries to Cuba. Of course we don’t want sanctions against Mexico, but we are talking and will soon send humanitarian aid.”
Mexico is planning to deliver aid “in the form of food and other products, while we will settle through diplomatic channels everything that has to do with the delivery of oil for humanitarian reasons.”
The head of state said at the beginning of February that the necessary preparations for the dispatch of relief goods and basic supplies for the Cuban population were already underway.
Sheinbaum recently warned of a large-scale humanitarian crisis in Cuba.
Experts: The situation is worse than at the beginning of the 1990s
The current crisis on the island is compared to the difficult period of upheaval at the beginning of the 1990s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caribbean state plunged into its deepest economic crisis since the revolution under Fidel Castro in 1959. Gross domestic product collapsed by more than a third and oil became a scarce commodity. With the help of its oil-rich partner Venezuela and income from tourism, Cuba only found its way out of the crisis a few years later.
However, according to experts, the current situation is even worse than it was back then.
Oil blockade affects air traffic
Due to a fuel shortage, the Canadian airline Air Canada is temporarily suspending its flights to Cuba, the company announced. In the coming days, only empty Air Canada planes will fly to the Caribbean island to take around 3,000 customers out of the country according to the regular flight schedule.
Canadians make up the majority of tourists visiting the island.
The Cuban government had previously informed international airlines that as a result of the US oil embargo, refueling on the island would no longer be possible from Tuesday, as media reported, citing pilots and airlines. The US aviation regulator FAA also warned of a shortage of kerosene at the airport in the Cuban capital Havana.
Other airlines have taken precautionary measures – without completely stopping flights. Air Europa, for example, is planning to stop over in the neighboring Dominican Republic to refuel, as the Spanish newspaper “El País” reported.
That’s how it is with the population
The situation in Cuba is dramatic. Public transport only works to a limited extent, stoves and heaters remain cold, and food is scarce. At the same time, temperatures in some regions recently fell to freezing point – an unprecedented event for the otherwise warm island.
Large parts of the population have long been used to power cuts. But wealthy districts of the capital Havana are now also affected by blackouts – even if they are shorter than in other areas, such as NZZ writes. Only in the historic center of Havana are there no power cuts – because of the few tourists who are still on the island.
The situation is particularly delicate at the gas stations, which are guarded by police and soldiers. Already in the evening, long queues of drivers form, waiting for the next morning. Because on some days you can only get petrol if you are lucky.
Another problem is the endless amounts of garbage that pile up on the streets of Cuba and are no longer disposed of due to a lack of resources. Residents still try to take advantage of this and dig through the garbage in order to get usable raw materials or leftover food for pigs and chickens, reports the NZZ.
Trash is piling up in Havana.Image: keystone
Many people in Havana are currently cooking with charcoal instead of gas. This is expensive, but at least still available.
In the state-run stores where Cubans have previously received their food allotted by the state, the shelves are mostly empty. Often only small amounts of sugar, rice or beans are available, writes the NZZ.
Cuba’s future prospects
Some Cubans are hoping for support from Russia or China. Mexico’s humanitarian aid could also help – and possibly include oil, some speculate. But since Trump’s desire to overthrow the Cuban regime of 1959 is well known, Cubans’ hopes are rather low.
Donald Trump wants to see the Cuban regime fall.Image: keystone
Despite the growing tensions between Cuba and the United States, the Cuban government is ready for talks with the United States. The prerequisite, however, is that the dialogue is conducted without pressure, without preconditions and on equal terms, said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel at a press conference in Havana.
Trump has said in recent days that Washington is already in talks with Cuba. He strongly advises Cuba to agree to a deal before it is “too late.”
However, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio told CNN that there was no formal dialogue yet, but only an “exchange of messages” with Washington.
With material from the news agencies SDA and DPA.