A U.S. blockade has deprived the Cuban island of fuel, leading to the worst rolling blackouts in decades in Havana on 13th May.

Hordes of angry Cubans poured out onto the streets in several outlying neighbourhoods, blocking roads with burning piles of rubbish, banging pots and shouting “Turn on the lights!” and “The people, united, will never be defeated!”

Reuters saw several groups of peaceful protesters in various areas of the city, the largest single night of demonstrations in Havana since the energy crisis began.

The shortages and blackouts have dramatically worsened since January when U.S. ​President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to oust Cuba’s communist-run government, imposed an embargo and threatened tariffs ⁠on any nation supplying the country with fuel.

Rodolfo Alonso, an individual in Havana, sweating and shirtless, has decided to protest since his neighbourhood, Playa, was without power for over 40 hours.

Alonso, who works for the state, said, “I live in a community where there’s plenty of older folks, many of whom are bedridden. Our food is spoiled. We began pounding on pots to get just three hours of power. This isn’t a political issue; we began pounding on pots.”

Reuters saw several instances when power was restored to a location where a protest was ongoing, leading to cheers from men, women and children, only for them to break up in a hurry.

Earlier, there was a large police presence at each site, but no security forces were directly involved and simply watched without intervening.

38-year-old Irailda Bravo reported sleeping on her doorstep for days after she was driven out of her house by the heat, and finally had to join a peaceful protest in Marianao.

“We know that the situation ‌in the ⁠country is chaotic. But we have young kids. We have to work. We have a life. We need to rest, and we can`t,” she said.

The country was completely without diesel and fuel oil, and its power grid was in a “critical” condition, Cuba’s energy and mines minister said earlier in the day.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O told state-run television there was no fuel (oil) and none of the diesel. “There is no need for backup troops.”

Blackouts have also multiplied,​ with many Havana districts missing light for as much as 20 to 22 hours daily, the minister said, further ratcheting up tensions in a city already suffering from food, fuel and medicine shortages, which have been exacerbated by a heat wave. .

PLEASE FOR FUEL

The country’s highest energy official said that Cuba was still working to import fuel despite the blockade, but added that escalating global oil and transportation costs due to the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran were making it more difficult.

The minister said that Cuba welcomes anyone who wishes to sell them fuel.

Neither Mexico nor Venezuela, once top suppliers of oil to Cuba, has sent fuel to the island since Trump’s order threatening tariffs.

Since December, only one large Russian-flagged oil tanker has brought in crude oil for Cuba, temporarily easing the island’s oil supply problems in April.

The resurgence of power outages follows a series of new fuel shortages in Havana and other parts of Cuba that have been impacting public services throughout the Caribbean nation of almost 10 million people since the U.S. embargo on fuel imports was reimposed four months ago.

Trump’s fuel blockade is illegal, the United Nations said last week, as it had “interfered with the Cuban people’s right to development, and jeopardised their right to water and sanitation, their right to education, and their right to health.