The Cuban government on Friday announced emergency measures to address a crippling energy crisis worsened by US sanctions, including the adoption of a four-day work week for state-owned companies and fuel sale restrictions.
Deputy Prime Minister Oscar Perez-Oliva Fraga told Cuban television the government would “implement a series of decisions, first and foremost to guarantee the vitality of our country and essential services, without giving up on development”.
“Fuel will be used to protect essential services for the population and indispensable economic activities,” he said.
The rationing measures are the first to be announced since President Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on the US-bound products of any country exporting fuel to Cuba and suggested hard times ahead for Cubans already suffering severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
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© France 24
Among the new measures are the reduction of the working week in state-owned companies to four days, from Monday to Thursday; restrictions on fuel sales; a reduction in bus and train services between provinces; and the closure of certain tourist establishments.
School days will also be made shorter and universities will reduce the requirement of in-person attendance.
These measures are intended to save fuel in order to promote “food and electricity production” and enable “the preservation of fundamental activities that generate foreign currency”, Perez-Oliva Fraga said.
The island of 9.6 million inhabitants, under US economic embargo since 1962, has been mired in a severe economic crisis for six years.
The United States has recently moved to cut off critical oil supplies to Cuba, including deliveries from Havana’s key ally Venezuela following the armed seizure of deposed president Nicolas Maduro and his wife by the US military in early January.
Trump also signed an executive order last week allowing his country to impose tariffs on countries selling oil to Havana.
Trump said that Mexico, which has been supplying Cuba with oil since 2023, would stop doing so – under threat of US tariffs.
The oil shortages have threatened to plunge Cuba into complete darkness, with power plants struggling to keep the lights on.
Washington has long sought to overthrow or weaken the communist-led Cuban government.
Havana has said that Trump wants to “strangle” the island’s economy, where power cuts and fuel shortages, already recurrent in recent years, have become even more acute.
This week, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said his country was willing to hold talks with the United States, but not under pressure.
He said any talks must take place “from a position of equals, with respect for our sovereignty, our independence and our self-determination” and without “interference in our internal affairs”.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
