Cuba facing severe energy crisis as supplies of Russian oil run dry

The national grid, he said, was in a “critical” state, and Cuba has “no reserves” of energy.

The capital city of Havana has suffered its worst rolling blackouts in decades, prompting large protests on Wednesday evening in the largest night of demonstrations since the energy crisis took hold in the country.

Hundreds of angry Cubans filled the streets of the capital, blocking roads with burning piles of rubbish and shouting “Turn on the lights!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”.

Blackouts have significantly worsened since Donald Trump assumed office for his second term last January and imposed a blockade on the country. Parts of Havana have been plunged into 20 to 22-hour blackout periods, Mr De la O Levy said.

The US president has been open about his intention to oust the island’s communist-run government, and has threatened tariffs on any country that supplies Cuba with fuel.

The US has offered to send $100m (£74m) in aid to Cuba in exchange for “meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system”, but the offer has not been taken.

“The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none – I am being repetitive – the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown,” Mr De la O Levy said.

Rodolfo Alonso, a resident of Havana who was protesting in his neighbourhood of Playa – which went for more than 40 hours without electricity – said old people in his community are suffering and food is spoiling.

“We started banging pots to see if they’d give us just three hours of electricity. That’s all we want. This isn’t a political problem,” he said.

Neither Mexico nor Venezuela, once top suppliers of oil to Cuba, have sent fuel to the island since Trump’s order threatening tariffs.

Only a single large oil tanker, the Russian-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin, has delivered crude oil to Cuba since December, providing temporary relief to the island in April.

The renewed power cuts in Havana and beyond come as the US blockade on fuel imports to Cuba enters its fourth month, crippling public services across the Caribbean island of nearly 10 million people.

The United Nations last week called Trump’s fuel blockade unlawful, saying it had obstructed the “Cuban people’s right to development while undermining their ​rights to food, education, health, and water and sanitation”.