The US embassy in Havana has warned American citizens to prepare for protests, denied entry, power outages and fuel shortages.
The US embassy in Havana has warned American citizens in Cuba to prepare for increased disruption as government-sponsored protests against Washington surge, and some US citizens are reportedly denied entry on arrival, the embassy said on Tuesday.
It also cautioned that people in the country should expect “significant disruption” from prolonged power outages and acute fuel shortages.
Rising protests
The embassy said there has been a rise in protests organised by the Cuban government that are directed at the United States and include anti-US rhetoric. It noted that some
American citizens have been denied entry to Cuba upon arrival, advising those planning to travel to check conditions carefully.
The advisory pointed to growing instability in Cuba’s national electrical grid, with scheduled and unscheduled blackouts now a daily occurrence across the island. It urged US citizens in Cuba, or planning to go there, to take precautions amid an unstable power situation and scarcity of fuel.
The US embassy advised people to conserve essential supplies such as fuel, water and food, and to keep mobile phone batteries charged to cope with “significant disruption”. It said the electrical grid’s instability is affecting basic services such as lighting, communications and water supply.
In recent weeks, Washington has moved to block all oil reaching Cuba, including shipments from its ally Venezuela, a move that has contributed to higher prices for food and transport and prompted severe fuel shortages and extended blackouts across the island.
US-Cuba straining ties
In recent weeks, the US has taken steps to halt all oil shipments to Cuba, including those sent by its ally Venezuela. The move has pushed up food and transport costs and led to severe fuel shortages and prolonged blackouts across the island, affecting even Havana. Although the US has maintained sweeping sanctions on Cuba for decades, the island’s deepening economic crisis and heightened pressure from the
Trump administration have intensified the standoff.
Responding to Trump’s warning over fuel supplies, Cuba’s foreign ministry official Carlos Fernández de Cossio said the strategy would ultimately fail.
“The US… is attempting to force every country in the world not to provide fuel to Cuba. Can that be sustained in the long run?” de Cossio told Reuters.
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