Birdnow's Aviary

May 14, 2026

Good Bye LaBayamessa: That's How the Cuban Cookie Crumbles

Timothy Birdnow

According to this article in the Epoch Times (requires registration) Cuba admits it is completely out of diesel and fuel oil.

From the article:

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.”

[...]

Hundreds of Cubans protested in the streets of several neighborhoods on May 13, blocking roads with burning garbage and chanting, "Turn on the lights!” and "The people, united, will never be defeated.”

The minister said the country had not received any oil imports since December until Russia sent 100,000 tons (about 700,000 barrels) of crude last month.

Cuba was heavily reliant on Venezuelan oil, supplied by the Maduro regime, but that supply was stopped after he was ousted and replaced by interim leader Delcy Rodríguez. Mexico also stopped sending oil, under pressure from the United States.

And while Cuba is struggling with keeping the lights on and the trucks moving it finds itself in a huge energy bind regardless:

The Cuban capital is also suffering from food and medicine shortages.

The minister said the grid was operating entirely on Cuban-produced crude oil, natural gas, and ‌renewable energy.

Solar Power Not Helping

Cuba has installed more than 1,300 megawatts of solar power over the past two years, but de la O Levy said the grid’s weakness meant it had to limit its input to avoid dangerous fluctuations.

The minister said the nation was in the final phase of a project to install large battery systems to stabilize the grid, allowing it to use more solar energy.

So the vaunted "renewables" are a flop, are they? The sad thing is Cuba is a MAJOR producer of sugar cane and they could follow Brazil's example and turn that into ethanol. (Brazil mandates that fully 25% of all fuel be ethanol, and they produce a lot of electricity by burning pure ethanol.) The only problem is the sugar cane is needed to feed the people; most Cubans survive extensively on sugar as their economy is incapable of producing food for the public. Even so, the Communist model has resulted in an industry collapse of sugar production in the island nation.

A nation that can't feed it's own people dare not use food for fuel.

This can't go on and either the regime will have to cry "uncle" and beg Trump for relief or the People will have to rise up and overthrow the Communists.

So what should happen to Cuba? Maybe we can get Puerto Rico to go in and administer the country for a while. Granted, Puerto Rico is run by Democrats under a different name so it wouldn't be much help. Forget I mentioned it!

Better, let El Salvador do the work Americans Just Won't Do. They've done a great job of cleaning up their own little slice of hell in the region.

Naturally the United Nations blamed the Trump Administration for Cuba's woes. They issued this statement:

"Cuba has been subjected to energy starvation by the United States, a condition in which the lack of fuel cripples the functioning of essential services required for a dignified life,” the experts said. "This unlawful blockade is not only disrupting daily life but also undermining the enjoyment of a wide range of human rights.”

But in the end this is what happens under Communism. We are just helping their regime to collapse under the weight of it's own contradictions.

Uh, in Cuba you don't have "human rights" - you have privileges that are extended by the State and can be revoked at any time.

When the lights go out for good and the trucks no longer run Cuba's government will collapse. It is inevitable.

Cuban troops have attacked American interests overseas for decades, going back to Angola and probably earlier. They helped fight the U.S. in lots of places over the years, including in Africa and the Middle East and especially in other Latin American countries. They attacked an American flagged ship recently, killing 4 people and wounding 6 others. There were large numbers of Cuban soldiers in Venezuela protecting Maduro. They've been all over Latin America, everywhere they believe they can foment revolution. It's well past time we put a stop to this.

Donald Trump isn't a man to kick the can down the road and he can walk and chew gum at the same time. He's serious about finally fixing this problem and he's going to do it. If the Cuban government cared about it's people it would try to make a deal with Mr. Trump now but they will never do that because that would show weakness to their own people. So they will prefer to let them starve.

It's a horrible thing, but then Communism always is.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 11:25 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 864 words, total size 7 kb.

1 Thanks to Cuba a generation believed that taking cover under a school desk would protect against a nuclear attack, Duck and Cover. Still its a historic time to be alive to watch as hard line communist countries are decaying from the inside.

Posted by: Mike at May 14, 2026 11:27 PM (r7U7Z)

2 Yep.
Even though I came after the "duck and cover" heyday we still did those drills on occasion in my Catholic grade school. I remember getting on the floor and hiding under the completely open desk. We also practiced going in the halls and kneeling with our faces to the wall. Good times!

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at May 15, 2026 07:32 AM (oflqW)

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