Cuba’s Energy Minister Says Nation Is Completely Out of Diesel, Fuel Oil

The U.S. State Department said it was restating Washington’s ‘generous offer to provide additional direct humanitarian assistance to the Cuban people.’

A man finishes putting fuel in his car's tank during a fuel blackout in Havana, Cuba, on March 16, 2026. Ramon Espinosa/AP

Cuba’s energy and mines minister said on May 13 that the country has completely run out of diesel and heavy fuel oil, and that its power grid has entered a “critical” state, as Havana faces its worst rolling ‌blackouts in decades amid a U.S. blockade that ⁠has strangled the island of fuel.

“We have absolutely no fuel [oil], and absolutely no diesel,” Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy told a news conference covered by Cuba’s state-run media. ​“We have no reserves.”