Cuba’s aviation officials warned airlines that jet fuel will not be available for refueling at nine airports across the island, starting Tuesday and continuing until March 11, according to notices published by Cuba’s government Sunday night.
The warning includes José Martí International Airport in Havana, and the aviation notices were issued to airlines and pilots, the Associated Press reported. Cuban officials said the shortages mean there is not enough fuel for airplanes to refuel on the island, as the country moves to ration energy amid what it describes as a deepening effort by the Trump administration to cut Cuba off from its fuel resources.
In the background of the aviation notices, Cuba’s government linked its crisis to U.S. pressure on Latin America and to constraints on its access to petroleum sources. The Associated Press reported that Cuban officials said political pressure from President Donald Trump has effectively severed Cuba’s access to its primary petroleum sources in Venezuela and Mexico.
The report cited a late January development in which Trump signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move Cuban officials said could further cripple an island already facing an energy emergency. While the aviation fuel rationing may not disrupt shorter regional routes, Cuban officials said it poses a significant challenge for long-haul travel, including routes connected to countries such as Russia and Canada—an important element of Cuba’s tourism economy.
On Monday, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to Cuba. Other airlines, the Associated Press said, announced delays and layovers in the Dominican Republic before continuing to Havana.
The Associated Press also reported that one pilot said the refueling problems are not entirely new, but that an official announcement of the scale affecting nine airports was extraordinary even for a country accustomed to recurring crisis. The pilot recalled that more than a decade ago, aircraft bound for Europe refueled in Nassau, Bahamas, and that now some airlines could reduce problems by bringing extra fuel or refueling in places such as Cancun, Mexico, or the Dominican Republic.
Beyond aviation, Cuban officials announced additional measures aimed at coping with the broader shortage situation. The government said bank hours had been reduced and cultural events suspended, and the Associated Press reported that in Havana the public bus system effectively ground to a halt as endemic power outages and long fuel lines reached a breaking point.
The Associated Press said the energy emergency forced the suspension of major events, including the Havana International Book Fair held over the weekend, and led to a restructuring of the national baseball season for greater efficiency. It also reported that some banks reduced their operating hours and that fuel distribution companies said they would no longer sell gas in Cuban pesos, with sales instead made in dollars and limited to 20 liters (5.28 gallons) per user.
The measures announced Monday followed other steps reported Friday, including cuts to bus transportation and limited train departures. On Thursday, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel delivered a two-hour televised address that acknowledged the impact and warned that further measures would be taken in the coming days.
The Associated Press said U.S. sanctions against Cuba have been in place for more than six decades, and it reported that they reached new extremes after a U.S. military operation deposed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and after Trump adopted an even more confrontational tone toward Latin America. For many Cubans, the report said, the crisis has meant power outages that can last up to 10 hours, fuel shortages for vehicles, and difficulty obtaining food or medicine—comparisons some residents make to the severe economic depression in the 1990s known as the Special Period that followed cuts in Soviet-era aid.