A gas station in Havana, this Thursday. Norlys Perez (REUTERS)
The government of Cuba published the notices to airlines and pilots on Sunday night, warning that jet fuel would be available at nine airports across the island, starting Tuesday and continuing until 11 March.
Cuban aviation officials have warned the island is running out of fuel for airlines to refuel on the island, the latest crisis prompted by a US oil blockade that has effectively severed Cuba’s access to its primary petroleum sources in Venezuela and Mexico.
The Cuban government issued the notice on Sunday night, warning that jet fuel would not be available at nine airports across the island, including José Martí International Airport in Havana, starting Tuesday and continuing until 11 March.
On Monday, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to the island, while other airlines announced delays and layovers in the Dominican Republic before flights continued to Havana.
One pilot said that while refuelling issues have occurred before, an official announcement of this scale is extraordinary even for an island accustomed to perpetual crisis.
The last time similar cuts occurred — more than a decade ago — aircraft bound for Europe refuelled in Nassau in the Bahamas, the pilot recalled. Now, regional airlines can avoid problems by carrying extra fuel, while others can refuel in Mexico’s Cancun or the Dominican Republic.
It remains unclear how long the notice will remain in effect, and Cuban officials have made no public comments on the matter.
US sanctions crippling Cuban economy
The fuel shortage deals another blow to a country that relies heavily on tourism, an industry that once generated more than €2.5 billion in annual revenue and served as a vital economic lifeline.
US sanctions against Cuba have been in place for more than six decades and have long stunted Cuba’s economy. But they reached new levels after a US military operation resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, and US President Donald Trump began taking on a more confrontational tone toward Latin America.
In late January, Trump signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.
Since the Venezuela operation, Trump has said that no more Venezuelan oil will go to Cuba and that the Cuban government is ready to fall.
Shortly after Cuba’s announcement, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said US military forces boarded a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the ship from the Caribbean Sea as part of an oil quarantine meant to squeeze Venezuela.
“I don’t care if we got to go around the globe to get them, we’re going to get them,” Hegseth said.
The energy emergency has forced the suspension of major events, such as this weekend’s Havana International Book Fair, and the restructuring of the national baseball season for greater efficiency.
Some banks have cut operating hours and fuel distribution companies said they would no longer sell gas in Cuban pesos — and that sales will be made in dollars and limited to 20 litres per user.
Cuban officials also announced Monday that bank hours have been reduced and that cultural events have been suspended. In Havana, the public bus system has effectively ground to a halt, leaving residents stranded as endemic power outages and gruelling fuel lines reach a breaking point.
For many Cubans, the crisis has translated into power outages lasting up to 10 hours, vehicle fuel shortages, and a lack of food or medicine, many of which compare to the severe economic depression in the 1990s known as the Special Period, which followed cuts in aid from what was then the Soviet Union.