Cuba informs the airlines that in 24 hours it will run out of fuel for planes due to the US oil siege

At the moment the airlines affected -mainly American, Spanish, Panamanian and Mexican- have not publicly communicated How are they going to face this situation, which could generate alterations in routes, frequencies and schedules, at least in the short term.

However, this fact is not new in Cuba. In previous similar situations – both in the special period in the 90s and in momentary bottlenecks in recent months – airlines had saved the problem by rearranging their routes with extra stops to refuel in Mexico or the Dominican Republic.

The majority of flights that connect the island with the outside world cover routes to Florida, in the United States (Miami, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale), Spain (Madrid), Panama (Panama City) and Mexico (Mexico City, Mérida, Cancún), although Cuba also has regular connections with Bogotá (Colombia), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) and Caracas (Venezuela).

The president of the United States, Donald Trumpsigned a presidential order on January 29 that threatened with tariffs on those countries that supplied oil to Cuba, after alleging that the island was a national security danger for his country.

The decision was one more twist to the energy pressure on Cuba that began on January 3, when after the military operation that concluded with the capture of the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Madurothe US announced the end of oil from that South American country for the island.

Trump urged Havana to negotiate “before it is too late” and the Cuban government has assured that it is open to dialogue with Washington, although it has denied on several occasions that they are already immersed in talks.

Cuba produces only a third of its energy needs. For the rest, it resorted to imports from Venezuela (which in 2025 accounted for around 30% of the total) and, to a lesser extent, from Mexico and Russia.

The Cuban Government announced this week a tough emergency plan to try to survive no crude oil imports and derivatives that included the end of the sale of diesel, the reduction of hospital and state office hours and the closure of some hotels.

Cuba faces this new US escalation from a very disadvantageous position, since it has six years immersed in a deep economic crisiswith high decrease and inflation, deficit of basic goods (food, medicine and fuel), prolonged daily blackouts and massive migration.