Cuba, which US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off the country's main oil supplies, produced only half of the electricity it needs last year, according to official figures analyzed by the AFP news agency.
The communist island state is in the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades. There are shortages of food and medicine, and Cubans have to live with recurring power outages lasting up to 20 hours a day. This has led to a mass exodus of Cubans.
Between January and December last year, Cuba experienced an average electricity deficit of around 49.8 percent. The figures are unchanged in the first weeks of 2026.
For the past six years, Cuba has been caught in an ever-deepening crisis. A crisis caused by a combination of tighter US sanctions, mismanagement of the domestic economy and the collapse of the tourism industry due to the corona pandemic.
Solar parks have not helped
A serious shortage of money has made it difficult for the Cuban government to import the fuel needed to run the country's power plants. The installation of a number of solar parks, financed by China, has not yet remedied the situation.
Solar energy production in Cuba increased tenfold last year, but the electricity can only be used while the sun is shining and not at night, when demand is highest.
The lack of electricity could get even worse for Cubans if Trump makes good on his threats to cut off all oil and money flows to Cuba. Trump has called on Cuba to make a deal with the Americans - without giving details about what the deal would contain.
Earlier this year, the United States ousted Venezuela's long-time president, Nicolás Maduro, in a major American military operation in the South American country.
Cuba is among Venezuela's closest allies in South America. Venezuela has been the main supplier of oil to Cuba since the turn of the millennium.
/ritzau/AFP
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