It\u2019s just gone midday on Linea, one of the main roads through Havana\u2019s Vedado neighbourhood, and Javier Pe\u00f1a and Ysil Ribas have been waiting since 6am outside a petrol station. They\u2019re passing the time fixing a leak on Ribas\u2019s 1955 gold and white Mercury.<\/p>\n
A tanker has pulled up on the forecourt in front of them, and so the queue behind is growing fast. Although this station only takes US dollars, at a cost far out of reach of most Cubans, Pe\u00f1a says it\u2019s their only choice. \u201cThere is no gas in the national pesos,\u201d he says, shrugging.<\/p>\n
Soon, even buying petrol in dollars may be impossible. The United States has said it will ensure there will be no more fuel shipments to the beleaguered island.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing extra tariffs to be slapped on any country that sells oil to the island<\/a>. The White House said the move was to \u201cprotect American citizens and interests\u201d from a regime that provides \u201ca safe haven for transnational terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n While no proof of this allegation was offered, the Trump administration<\/a> has now made plain it is seeking to fell the 67-year-old communist regime. \u201cCuba will be failing pretty soon,\u201d Trump said earlier in the week.<\/p>\n On Friday, Mexico\u2019s president warned that Trump\u2019s tariff\u2019s \u201ccould trigger a far-reaching humanitarian crisis<\/a>, directly affecting hospitals, food supplies and other basic services for the Cuban people\u201d.<\/p>\n For Cubans, the situation is precipitous. Only one oil shipment has arrived this year \u2013 84,900 barrels from Mexico \u2013 according to the data consultancy Kpler. Given current reserves, if no more tankers arrive, Kpler estimates Cuba will run out of fuel in the next three weeks, the Financial Times reported<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n Drivers wait in a long line at a gas station in Havana, Cuba, on 30 January 2026. Photograph: Ram\u00f3n Espinosa\/AP<\/p>\n In a social media post on Friday, Cuba\u2019s president, Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, accused Trump of trying to stifle the island, writing: \u201cUnder a false and baseless pretext \u2026 President Trump intends to suffocate the Cuban economy by imposing tariffs on countries that sovereignly trade oil with Cuba.\u201d<\/p>\n Jorge Pi\u00f1\u00f3n, an energy expert at the University of Texas, said diesel is key: \u201c[If Cuba runs out,] the impact would be catastrophic as diesel fuels transportation \u2013 both passenger and commercial, the railroad, agriculture, industry, water distribution and sugarcane.\u201d It also powers an electricity system that is faring so badly that many parts of the island suffer from 12-hour-plus blackouts every day<\/a>.<\/p>\n