Nation on the verge of crisis

A Russian oil donation from late March has been used up, Cuban Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a special television appearance on Wednesday evening local time.

“The situation is very tense, it is getting hotter,” de la O Levy said on Cuban state television, referring to the Caribbean island’s scorching summer months that are driving up energy demand.

In recent days, small groups of Cubans have taken to the streets, often at night, banging pots and pans to protest extended energy cuts.

The grim-faced official repeated several times that oil reserves for the island’s beleaguered power grid were all but depleted.

“We have absolutely no diesel,” he said.

Following the US attack on Cuba’s oil-rich ally Venezuela in January and the Trump administration’s declaration that the Cuban government is a threat to US national security, the communist-run island has faced an oil blockade.

Aside from the one shipload of donated Russian oil, Cuban officials say they have been cut off from all U.S. oil shipments for more than four months.

That oil donation was used up in early May and Cubans regularly suffer from blackouts that last most of the day, if not all day.

Some Cubans are now complaining that they are not getting enough power to charge things like electric mopeds or even phones. Many people wake up in the middle of the night – during the brief moments there is electricity – to perform basic tasks such as doing laundry and cooking.

Although de la O Levy said the island is increasingly using solar energy thanks to panels donated by China, he said cloud cover and weather conditions often cause the power generated to fluctuate widely.

Without expensive batteries to store the electricity generated by the panels, they provide no overnight interruption during peak demand.

“In Havana, power outages now last longer than 20 to 22 hours (per day),” de la O Levy said.

The Trump administration is trying to force the Cuban government to open the island politically and economically and oust its top leadership so that economic sanctions can be lifted.

President Donald Trump has said the Cuban government is on the verge of collapse and that he is considering using military force to take the island.

Cuban officials have angrily refuted the pressure campaign and vowed to resist any military intervention by force.

On Wednesday, a State Department press release said the US has offered the island $100 million in aid to implement “meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system.”

“The decision rests with the Cuban regime to accept our offer of assistance or deny crucial life-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of crucial aid,” the press release said.

The Cuban government said Thursday it is “ready to listen” to the aid offer, although it stressed it has no specific details about the Foreign Ministry’s proposal.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said such an offer would encounter “no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba,” but he stressed that an alternative solution to the crisis exists.

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