Mass protests broke out in the Cuban capital, Havana, on May 13 amid power outages caused by a US fuel blockade.
According to Reuters reporters, hundreds of Cubans took to the streets, blocked roads with piles of burning garbage, and banged on pots and pans while chanting: “Turn on the lights!” And “A united people is invincible!” Reuters notes that in some cases, electricity was restored specifically to areas where protests took place. Then the demonstrators applauded and dispersed.
Journalists write that there were “significant police forces” in the protest areas, but they largely remained on the sidelines and did not intervene. Reuters describes these protests as the largest since the start of the energy crisis in Havana.
The Cuban Minister of Energy and Mining said that the country has completely exhausted its reserves of diesel and fuel oil, and that the island’s energy system is in a “critical” state.
A senior energy official said Cuba continues to negotiate fuel imports, but rising global oil and transportation prices are complicating those efforts.
The crisis in US-Cuban relations worsened with the return of Donald Trump to the presidency in 2025. Since the beginning of 2026, Washington has increased pressure on Cuba and effectively imposed a blockade on fuel supplies by sea. This led to an energy crisis and power outages. In addition, Trump has repeatedly said that the Cuban government has “big problems” and that U.S. ready For “friendly takeover”.
CNN early in the week I mentionedthat American reconnaissance aircraft sharply increased their activity off the coast of Cuba, and indicated that something similar was observed before the US army’s operations in Venezuela and Iran.