The embargo reflects Trump’s decision to cut off Venezuela’s oil supply to Cuba after the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January and took control of the country’s oil exports. As nightlife venues close and Cubans contend with shortages of fuel, food, and medicine, the island’s celebrated entertainment scene—a signature draw for tourism—has become a casualty of the broader economic collapse.

Havana’s avenues sit empty at night. Theaters are closed, bars have lowered their curtains, and the streets that once thrummed with music fall silent under the weight of an oil embargo imposed by President Donald Trump and Cuba’s most severe economic crisis in decades. International airlines including Air France, Air Canada, and Iberia have abandoned Havana because they cannot refuel there.

The collapse has been swift. Gasoline sales are limited to 20 liters per vehicle, with owners waiting months for a turn at the pump. Buses stop running at 6 p.m. In the wealthy El Vedado neighborhood, the sound of cars has vanished entirely; the soundscape of chirping birds has returned.

Tourism, the island’s vital economic engine, has cratered. Cuba reported 77,600 tourists arrived in February 2026, down from 178,000 in the same month a year ago.

The Tourism Boom That Preceded Collapse

Following a 2016 deal between then-Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro easing U.S. travel restrictions on Cuba, money flooded the island as tourism spiked. A record 4.7 million tourists arrived in 2018, saturating hotel accommodations so completely that travelers without lodging were seen sleeping in parks in the western Cuban town of Viñales.

A small number of entrepreneurs seized the moment, opening newly allowed private businesses and buying imported modern vehicles that shared streets with classic cars from the 1950s. For a brief window, the future looked different.

Worse Than the Special Period

“I feel empty inside when I see my streets empty,” said Yusleydi Blanco, a 41-year-old accountant. “I can’t be happy when my country is sad.”

The 1990s brought Cuba’s “Special Period” — a decade of economic devastation after the Soviet Union’s collapse eliminated Cuba’s Cold War patron and primary oil supplier. That era is now the benchmark for comparison, and the current crisis has surpassed it in the minds of those living through both.

“This is worse than the Special Period,” said Dolores de la Caridad Méndez, a 65-year-old parking attendant.

The Exodus of Talent

Between 2021 and 2024, approximately 1.4 million Cubans left the island — mostly young people but also accomplished musicians, actors, dancers, and other entertainers who fueled Havana’s nightlife. They carried with them the cultural energy that made the city a destination.

How the Oil Cutoff Happened

In January, the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whose country had been Cuba’s primary oil supplier. The Trump administration severed that supply and threatened to impose tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba. For months, no oil arrived. A Russian tanker finally broke the drought in March, but the damage to the island’s economy was already cascading.

President Trump has demanded an end to Cuba’s political repression, a release of political prisoners, and a liberalization of the island’s economy — demands the Cuban government has not met.

Cascading Shortages

The deepening crisis has produced persistent blackouts, cuts to the state-run food ration system, and severe shortages of water and medicine that have transformed daily life into an ordeal for the island’s 10 million people.

For entrepreneurs and business owners across Cuba, the collapse has been crushing.

“You wake up and you’re ready to conquer the world, saying, ‘Today I’ll sell more than ever,’” said Yeni Pérez, owner of the Old Havana cafe Entre Nos. “Then not a single client comes in and you go home devastated.”

“The next day,” she said, “You say, ‘Let’s give it another chance.’ It’s a time that’s testing everyone’s stamina.”

For now, Havana’s streets remain dark.