Cuba’s energy crisis to worsen as donated Russian oil runs out, minister warns

By Patrick Oppmann, CNN

(CNN) — Cuba’s dire energy woes are about to become even more critical, the nation’s energy minister warned Wednesday.

A Russian donation of oil in late March has been exhausted, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy, said in a special televised appearance Wednesday night.

“The situation is very tense, it’s becoming hotter,” de la O Levy said on Cuban state-run TV, referring to the scorching summer months on the Caribbean island that drive up demand for energy.

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

The grim-faced official repeated several times that oil reserves to run the island’s beleaguered electrical grid were all but spent.

“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 presents a threat to US national security, the communist-run island has faced an oil blockade.

Other than the one shipload of donated Russian oil, Cuban officials say they have been cut off from any oil shipments by the US for more than four months.

That oil donation was used up in early May and Cubans are regularly suffering blackouts that last most of the day if not the entire day.

Some Cubans now complain they don’t receive enough power to charge items like electric mopeds or even phones. Many people wake in the middle of the night – during the brief moments there is electricity – to do basic tasks like laundry and cooking.

While de la O Levy said the island was increasingly using solar power thanks to panels donated by China, he said cloud cover and weather conditions often means that the power generated fluctuates greatly.

Without costly batteries to store the electricity generated by the panels, they do not provide any respite in the night-time hours during peak demand.

“In Havana, the blackouts now exceed 20-22 hours (per day),” de la O Levy said.

The Trump administration is attempting to force the Cuban government to open the island politically and economically, and oust top leadership in order for economic sanctions to 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 promised to resist any military intervention with force.

On Wednesday, a State Department news release said the US was offering the island $100 million in aid, to carry out “meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system.”

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

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