Cuba out of fuel oil, diesel under US sanctions, energy minister says

Cuba’s energy minister said Wednesday that the country has run out of oil and diesel amid a sustained U.S. blockade that has choked off fuel supply and pushed the island’s energy system to the brink.

“We have absolutely no fuel, and absolutely no diesel,” Vicente de la O Levy said on state media, according to The Guardian. “We have no reserves.”

The energy minister added that the nation’s electric grid was in a “critical” state, with rolling blackouts — lasting 22 hours a day in some neighborhoods — becoming more frequent in the capital of Havana.

Cuba, which is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil, has received only one shipment of oil since January. But United Press International separately reported that de la O Levy said the 730,000-barrel delivery from a Russian-flagged tanker had run out, and the national grid was now operating solely on Cuba’s domestic crude oil, natural gas and renewable energy.

Cuban officials have blamed the acute fuel shortage on an embargo imposed by the Trump administration following the U.S. military operation in Venezuela earlier this year. President Trump has also warned other countries not to do business with Cuba.   

“This dramatic worsening has a single cause: the genocidal........

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