{"id":551400,"date":"2026-03-21T15:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551400\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T15:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T15:03:11","slug":"cubans-say-every-day-is-a-struggle-for-survival-as-they-face-blackouts-water-and-fuel-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/551400\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubans say every day is a struggle for survival as they face blackouts, water and fuel shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melanie Chantelle Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios, 15, has two young children and says she dreams that some day, when they grow older, they’ll be able to leave Cuba and escape the daily fight for survival her family faces.<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios lives in a one-bedroom home in Havana’s Buena Vista neighbourhood with her 17-year-old husband, a daughter aged one and a half, a six-month-old son and her grandmother.<\/p>\n

The family keeps several tubs and jugs always filled with water because they never know when they’ll be hit with a power blackout, which also cuts off the water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Blackouts have been common for years, but now, since U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in hopes of forcing the country’s collapse<\/a>, the interruptions have become more frequent and longer, sometimes engulfing the whole country<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Officials say the energy blockade is inflicting harm on all parts of Cuban society, and residents \u2014 many of whom relied on a tourism industry that has evaporated \u2014 struggle to secure basics like food and water.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think it’s something that is going to get worse,” said Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios. “Sometimes, because of the power, we can’t get water and people go crazy.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Cuba reels under Trump’s oil embargo:\"\"<\/p>\n

No fuel, no tourists: Cuba reels under Trump’s oil embargo<\/p>\n

The crushing U.S. oil embargo on Cuba is making life more desperate on the impoverished island. Gasoline now sells for $10 US per litre on the black market, and a sharp drop in tourism has sapped the economy of what little foreign income it had.<\/p>\n

The national grid completely failed this past Monday for nearly 30 hours. In Havana, the capital, power is rationed daily between neighbourhoods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cuba \u2014 which depends on oil for over 80 per cent of its power generation \u2014 has gone three months without receiving any petroleum shipments after Trump strong-armed Mexico and Venezuela to stop sending tankers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tourism industry, a major source of revenue, is in shambles after many cruise ships and airlines suspended operations to the country due to the fuel shortage. In Old Havana, many of the palatial hotels sit mostly empty.<\/p>\n

Wide-ranging impact of fuel shortage <\/p>\n

In the area around Central Park, by the National Capitol, a handful of taxi operators who drive iconic classic cars from the late 1940s and 1950s spend empty afternoons waiting for fares that never show.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Taxi driver Alfredo Hernandez, 75, owns a 1948, red Buick convertible imported by his grandfather. Before the oil blockade, the roughly 400 classic cars in operation could barely keep up with the tourist demand for rides, he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Tourism has now almost totally collapsed,” said Hernandez.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople gather near the entrance to the San Rafael Market in Havana on Friday. (Glen Kugelstadt\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The taxi drivers used to get an allotment of over 300 litres of fuel a day; now they get 20 litres, said Hernandez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fuel is now tightly rationed in Cuba, creating a black market where a litre of gasoline sells for about $10 US. Local traffic now flows at a fraction of its previous level, locals say.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scooters \u2014 many of them electric \u2014 and bicycles appear to outnumber cars on the streets of Havana.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This energy crunch has created a level of hardship that the island nation \u2014 with a population of about 10 million, who are long used to facing difficult conditions created by the more than six-decade U.S. economic embargo \u2014 has never endured before, according to Zunilda Barrios Nu\u00f1ez, 59, who is the grandmother of Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios. <\/p>\n

\"AZunilda Barrios Nu\u00f1ez, 59, seen with her grandchildren, says the fuel shortage has also caused a sudden spike in the price of food that’s made it almost impossible for many people to afford basic staples. (Frangel de la Torre Nu\u00f1ez\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Barrios Nu\u00f1ez said this moment is tougher than Cuba’s economic crisis of the “Special Period,” following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which saw the nation face food shortages and rationing.<\/p>\n

“That was a tough time, but not like today,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The fuel shortage has also caused a sudden spike in the price of food, which has made it almost impossible for many people to afford basic staples, said Barrios Nu\u00f1ez .\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the price of a pound of chicken (less than half a kilogram) went from about $18 Cuban pesos, to about $350 pesos a pound.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

An elementary school teacher, Barrios Nu\u00f1ez said the cost of buying food for the family consumes all her salary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You have to invent ways to survive,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Canadian dollar was trading at about $338 pesos in Havana this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios doesn’t have a job because she is still finishing school and taking care of the children. Her husband, Leonardo Acosta, works at a street-side vegetable stand in a municipality southeast of Havana. He leaves every morning at 5 a.m. and gets home sometime after 10 p.m., said Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a good day he’ll bring home up to $2,000 pesos, while their daily food costs can hit $3,000 pesos a day, she said.<\/p>\n

“One can go without eating, but the children can’t,” said Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You have to move to find even a little bit of meat, you have to do what you can. Children can’t go without food.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. ‘abusing its power’: deputy minister<\/p>\n

Carlos Fern\u00e1ndez de Coss\u00edo, Cuba’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, said the population of Cuba is a victim of U.S. aggression.<\/p>\n

“The United States is acting like a rogue state, abusing its power,” said Fern\u00e1ndez de Coss\u00edo.<\/p>\n

\"ACarlos Fern\u00e1ndez de Coss\u00edo, Cuba\u2019s deputy minister of foreign affairs, said the population of Cuba is a victim of U.S. aggression. (Sylvia Thomson\/CBC)<\/p>\n

The U.S. energy blockade is inflicting harm on all parts of Cuban society, including the health care and education systems, its agricultural and industrial sector, its transportation networks, along with the ability of Cuban citizens to have a livelihood, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This is a criminal activity against the people of Cuba,” said Fern\u00e1ndez de Coss\u00edo, during a news conference Friday.<\/p>\n

He said that Cuba’s system of government was not on the negotiating table in ongoing talks with the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alexander Rond\u00f3n, 49, a soccer coach and a father of three children, aged seven to 18, said people should leave politics to the politicians.<\/p>\n

“If things get better, good. If they don’t, we continue the struggle until it does get better,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rond\u00f3n said there are a wide range of views on the streets of Havana, including some who believe that Trump should come and wipe the slate clean in Cuba.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“That’s how they think, you can’t take that from them,” he said. “But no, the problem has to be fixed among us [Cubans].”<\/p>\n

\"AAlexander Rond\u00f3n, 49, is a soccer coach in Cuba and a father of three children, aged seven to 18. (Glen Kugelstadt\/CBC)<\/p>\n

There have been violent flare-ups during the blackouts, including in the city of Mor\u00f3n, which sits about 460 kilometres west of Havana, where people earlier this month ransacked a Communist Party office<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People in several neighbourhoods have also protested by banging pots and pans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Barrios Nu\u00f1ez said she doubts there will ever be widespread unrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I see that as really far from reality,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People spend all their energy on surviving day-to-day, said Barrios Nu\u00f1ez .\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Things won’t get better,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe sun breaks through clouds over Havana on Saturday. (Jorge Barrera\/CBC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melanie Chantelle Gonz\u00e1lez Barrios, 15, has two young children and says she dreams that some day, when they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-551400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}