Two ships transferring by means of the Atlantic Ocean have caught the eye of maritime intelligence firms and geostrategists the world over. The Anatoly Kolodkin, owned by the Russian authorities and carrying an estimated 7,30,000 barrels of crude oil, is heading in the direction of energy-starved Cuba in clear defiance of Donald Trump’s unlawful vitality blockade of the socialist island-nation. Delivery tracker agency Kpler reported that the Kolodkin might attain Cuba as early as Monday (March 23, 2026).
It will not be the primary tanker trying to carry Russian gasoline to Cuba in current weeks. The Sea Horse, loaded with 2,00,000 barrels of gasoline oil believed to be from Russia however owned by a Chinese language agency, was headed to Cuba earlier than it abruptly halted in the midst of the Atlantic final month — seemingly fearing penalties from the U.S. authorities. If the Russian ships arrive, defying the U.S. blockade, they are going to be Cuba’s first vitality shipments in three months.
Even so, the aid can be short-term. The 7,30,000 barrels of crude can produce diesel, gasoline, and jet gasoline, whereas additionally serving to energy the electrical grid, Jorge Piñón, a former oil government who research Cuba’s vitality on the College of Texas, advised The New York Occasions. However the crude would first must be refined, and Cuba’s refineries are extremely inefficient, that means it will seemingly take a number of weeks and waste oil within the course of. The Russian cargo, Mr. Piñón mentioned, would give Cuba “respiration room of not more than 30 days”.
The morning after Mr. Trump’s feedback about “taking” Cuba earlier this week, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, advised reporters that Russia was in shut contact with Cuba about its vitality disaster and was “prepared to supply all potential help.” Cuba, he added, is “an unbiased sovereign state that faces main financial difficulties because of the suffocating embargo imposed on the nation.”
Russia’s assist can be an enormous succour to a determined Cuba. The nation’s whole electrical energy grid collapsed this week, leaving about 10 million individuals with out energy. Though the federal government managed to partially restore provide to components of Havana, the implications have been disastrous for unusual Cubans. A report from the bottom in Havana by The Guardian indicated that there are few vehicles on the roads, most airways serving the island have suspended flights, the Canadian firm Sherritt Worldwide has shuttered nickel mining operations in Cuba, state workplaces have closed, and faculties have partly suspended lessons. Many, the newspaper reported, are fighting spoiled meals, stifling warmth, and sleepless kids.
Cuba’s newest blackout underscores deepening financial disaster | In footage
Metropolis lights throughout a blackout, leaving round 10 million individuals with out energy amid a U.S.-imposed oil blockade, in Havana on March 16, 2026. Whereas Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been producing its personal energy, it hasn’t been adequate to satisfy demand as its electrical grid continues to crumble.
Folks collect on a avenue throughout a blackout as Cuba’s, in Havana on March 16, 2026. President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday (March 13) mentioned the island had not acquired oil shipments in three months and was working on solar energy, pure gasoline and thermoelectric vegetation.
Folks stroll on a avenue throughout a blackout in Havana on March 16, 2026. A large outage over every week in the past affected the island’s west, leaving hundreds of thousands with out energy. One other main blackout affected western Cuba in early December.
Road distributors chat on the Malecón throughout a blackout in Havana on March 16, 2026. This was the third main blackout in Cuba over the previous 4 months.
Folks stroll on the road throughout a blackout in Havana on March 16, 2026. President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday (March 13) mentioned that the federal government has needed to postpone surgical procedures for tens of 1000’s of individuals.
Gladys Valdes, 76, prepares espresso throughout the blackout, in Havana on March 16, 2026. “Cuba proper now’s in very dangerous form,” President Donald Trump mentioned, a day after Cuba’s third nationwide blackout in 4 months because the socialist island’s economic system suffers beneath U.S. sanctions.
Folks sit on the facet of a avenue throughout a blackout. The federal government additionally has blamed its woes on a U.S. vitality blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any nation that sells or gives oil to Cuba.
An individual stands on a balcony throughout a blackout as Cuba’s nationwide electrical grid collapsed, in Havana on March 16, 2026. The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba launch political prisoners and transfer towards political and financial liberalisation in return for a lifting of sanctions.
A motortaxi drives on a avenue throughout a blackout, in Havana on March 16, 2026. William LeoGrande, a professor at American College who has tracked Cuba for years, mentioned the nation’s vitality grid hasn’t been maintained correctly and its infrastructure is “well past its regular helpful life.”
A person makes use of a flashlight throughout a blackout as Cuba’s, in Havana on March 16, 2026. State-owned media reported that by late on March 16, 2026, energy had been restored to five% of residents within the capital, Havana, representing some 42,000 prospects.
A view of Havana metropolis with the Nationwide Capitol constructing within the background, as Cuba reconnected its electrical grid throughout a lot of the island, based on the Power and Mines Ministry, in Havana, Cuba on March 17, 2026. Cuba’s Ministry of Power and Mines mentioned on X that the island had restored {the electrical} system within the western city of Pinar del Rio and the southeastern province of Holguin and that some “microsystems” have been starting to function in numerous territories.
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Cuba’s dependence on oil is structural: it accounts for 83% of complete energy technology, whereas oil merchandise make up 56% of complete vitality consumption by trade, transport, agriculture, and households. For a rustic that imports roughly 80% of its meals, extended blackouts are catastrophic as they interrupt refrigeration very important for preserving perishables. The archaic energy community has been partially collapsing usually since October 2024, with three nationwide grid failures prior to now 4 months alone.
None of this has deterred the Trump administration which continues to pursue criminally unlawful actions. On January 29, Mr. Trump signed an government order threatening punitive tariffs on any nation promoting oil to Cuba. This week, he went additional, explicitly threatening to “take” the island. Cuba’s gasoline provides had been extremely depending on Venezuelan oil beneath the oil-for-doctors scheme instituted by Hugo Chavez. In 2022, Venezuela provided 75% of Cuba’s oil imports; by 2023, this had dropped to 58% as Mexico emerged as a key provider with 31%. Venezuela’s provide fell from 46,500 barrels per day in December 2025 to zero following Nicolas Maduro’s abduction in early January. After the January 29 order, Mexico additionally halted shipments.
Six many years of coercion
The present disaster can be the fruits of six many years of U.S. financial coercion. What Cubans name the “blockade” started in 1962 following the Cuban Revolution and nationalisation of industries. The embargo was bolstered in 1992 by the Torricelli Act, which prohibited international subsidiaries of U.S. corporations from buying and selling with Cuba and barred ships that had docked in Cuba from coming into U.S. ports for 180 days. The 1996 Helms-Burton Act codified the embargo into regulation, prolonged sanctions to international firms doing enterprise in Cuba, and allowed U.S. residents to sue international buyers utilizing confiscated American property. The primary Trump administration redesignated Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” in January 2021, days earlier than leaving workplace, deepening its monetary exclusion from world commerce. Cuban authorities have documented over 1,000 situations of international banks refusing providers between 2021 and 2024.
Within the second Trump administration, U.S. coverage in the direction of Cuba is fronted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants who left Cuba in 1956. Mr. Rubio grew up immersed in Miami’s Cuban émigré group, the place deep hostility in the direction of the socialist authorities has remained a strong pressure. He has overtly known as for regime change in Havana. “That is our hemisphere,” Mr. Rubio declared on X after the Venezuela operation.
Talks and strain
Cuba not too long ago admitted it was in discussions with Washington D.C. and seems prepared to make some financial adjustments. Shortly earlier than Mr. Trump’s newest risk, Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, the deputy Prime Minister, mentioned Cuba was open to expatriate Cubans and international firms doing enterprise on the island. “We’re not simply speaking about small enterprise, but in addition the opportunity of with the ability to take part in key sectors of our growth,” he advised NBC.
However Mr. Rubio mentioned the proposed adjustments didn’t go far sufficient and hinted at additional strain. “What they introduced yesterday is just not dramatic sufficient. It’s not going to repair it. So we’ve acquired some huge choices to make,” he mentioned. The New York Occasions reported that U.S. negotiators have been demanding the resignation of President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Cuba has confronted and overcome extreme financial crises earlier than. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which offered subsidies averaging $4.3 billion yearly, the island went by means of what it termed the “Particular Interval” by means of the Nineties. GDP fell by 35% between 1989 and 1993 and Cubans confronted extreme meals shortages. The federal government responded with partial liberalisation, permitting small companies and decriminalising the circulation of U.S. {dollars}. Extra not too long ago, it has permitted micro, small and medium enterprises. However these reforms have proved inadequate towards the mixed weight of the embargo and subsequent sanctions.
This disaster could also be extra extreme nonetheless. The Particular Interval ultimately noticed Venezuela emerge as an financial lifeline beneath Chávez. In the present day, that lifeline has been severed by U.S. navy motion, and the manager order explicitly threatens any authorities considering humanitarian aid.
Whereas a lot of the world’s consideration, together with India’s, has been centered on the vitality disaster triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — precipitated by U.S. and Israel’s unlawful actions on Iran — Cuba faces a extra deliberate type of strangulation. The Hormuz disaster is a consequence of regional battle spurred by U.S. actions whereas Cuba’s is the meant final result of a focused U.S. coverage designed to choke a whole nation into submission.
The Cuban authorities has remained defiant even because it negotiates. President Díaz-Canel responded that the U.S. authorities needs “to take over the nation, its assets, its properties, and even the very economic system they search to suffocate with the intention to pressure us to give up.” He added: “Confronted with the worst-case state of affairs, Cuba is guided by one certainty: any exterior aggressor will face unyielding resistance.” Whether or not that resistance can outlast the blackouts and mounting desperation of unusual Cubans and whether or not worldwide help just like the Russian gasoline shipments will arrive in time stays to be seen.
Printed – March 21, 2026 06:34 pm IST