Fuel shortages and heightened political tensions have prompted warnings to U.S. citizens about protests, travel disruptions, and worsening infrastructure conditions on the island.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba has warned of rising anti-American rhetoric and regime-organized protests amid deepening fuel shortages on the island, cautioning that some U.S. citizens are being denied entry upon arrival.
In a notice posted on its website, the embassy said that “there have been incidents of U.S. citizens being denied entry upon arrival as well as a spike in regime-sponsored protest activity directed at the United States, including anti-U.S. rhetoric.” The advisory applies to Americans currently in Cuba as well as those planning to travel there.
The embassy issued a separate warning following a demonstration organized by Cuban authorities outside the embassy building on Feb. 3, advising U.S. nationals to “avoid the demonstration area and areas with high likelihood of protests,” to “avoid crowds,” and to remain alert to their surroundings.
The warnings come as Cuba grapples with acute fuel shortages that have driven up food and transportation costs and contributed to widespread power outages. The U.S. Embassy said Cuba’s national electrical grid has become increasingly unstable, with prolonged scheduled and unscheduled blackouts now a daily occurrence across much of the country. Americans living in or visiting Cuba were urged to conserve fuel, water, food, and mobile phone charge and to prepare for significant disruptions.
The shortages have intensified following a series of U.S.-led actions aimed at cutting off Cuba’s remaining oil supplies. President Donald Trump last month urged Havana to strike a deal with his administration after the United States captured former Venezuelan socialist leader Nicolás Maduro and pressured interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodríguez to redirect oil shipments that had previously been sold to Cuba at discounted rates.
Last year, Venezuela was Cuba’s largest oil supplier, providing about 26,500 barrels per day, roughly one-third of the island’s daily needs. Mexico ranked second, supplying about 5,000 barrels per day.
Trump said on Feb. 2 that Mexico would stop sending oil to Cuba, further escalating pressure on the communist-led government in Havana. “Mexico is going to cease sending them oil,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, without providing details on timing or enforcement.
In an executive order signed Jan. 29, Trump described the Cuban regime as posing an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, accusing Havana of hosting “dangerous adversaries” and supporting “numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups and malign actors.”
“Cuba will be failing pretty soon,” Trump said on Jan. 27. “Cuba is really a nation that’s very close to failing.”
Trump later imposed tariffs on goods from countries that continue supplying oil to Cuba, adding to the economic strain on the island.
Despite the escalating pressure, Trump has also signaled openness to engagement. “We’re starting to talk with Cuba. They need help on a humanitarian basis,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Jan. 31. He added that many Americans were “treated very badly by Cuba” and said he would like to see Cubans return “to a vote in their country, which they haven’t seen in their country for many, many decades.”
Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said Feb. 1 that Havana and Washington are in communication and that the Cuban government is “ready to have a serious, meaningful and responsible dialogue.” He questioned the sustainability of U.S. efforts to cut off Cuba’s fuel supplies, asking whether other countries would accept being told by Washington “to whom they can export their national products.”
The current tensions unfold against a long historical backdrop. In 1959, a communist revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrew U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista, replacing his government with a totalitarian system supported for decades by the Soviet Union and later by Venezuela. An estimated 2.4 million people of Cuban origin now live in the United States, many of them having fled the communist regime and settled primarily in Florida.
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