What oil Cuba has left is running out. Constant power cuts have closed swathes of industry and many of the hotels on which the island’s crucial tourism industry depends. But for many the oil embargo imposed by US president Donald Trump after the US attack on its main supplier, Venezuela, has brought a new level of pain. The oil embargo has been denounced by the UN as an illegal breach of human rights, and like the long-standing wider embargo has attracted international criticism. Canada has said it may assist Cuba, though has not specified how it might do so.

Source: The Irish Times February 25, 2026 07:00 UTC