<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting at the Vatican on May 7, 2026.<\/p>\n
U.S. State Department<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s leader, Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel, said Thursday that his government will accept a U.S. offer to provide $100 million in humanitarian aid, as the country runs out of fuel and Washington signals its impatience with stalled diplomatic talks between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday the U.S. government had offered to send $100 million in humanitarian aid to the country, but that Cuban authorities had not accepted it. Earlier this week Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez said his government had no knowledge of the offer and accused Rubio of lying.<\/p>\n
But after the State Department on Wednesday said the offer was still standing, D\u00edaz-Canel said the Cuban government would not stand in its way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the U.S. government is truly prepared to provide aid in the amounts it has announced\u2014and in full conformity with universally recognized practices for humanitarian assistance\u2014it will encounter neither obstacles nor ingratitude on the part of Cuba, however inconsistent and paradoxical such an offer may seem to a people whom that very same U.S. government systematically and ruthlessly subjects to collective punishment,\u201d D\u00edaz-Canel wrote in a posting on X.<\/p>\n
The State Department said the aid could be distributed by the Catholic Church and other reliable independent humanitarian organizations. Rubio discussed the aid delivery in a meeting at the Vatican with Pope Leo XIV last week.<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s leader said his government\u2019s \u201cexperience working with the Catholic Church is rich and productive.\u201d He said, \u201cThe priorities are more than evident: fuel, food, and medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Herald reached out to the State Department for comment, but had not had a response by the time this story was published.<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s economy, which has been in a steep decline for several years, has hit rock bottom, and the population has been enduring shortages, blackouts and the effects of collapsing infrastructure. The economy has been almost paralyzed for well over a year. Still, the situation on the island was about to get much worse, which might have factored into the Cuban government\u2019s decision to accept U.S. aid.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the country\u2019s energy minister said the government has run out of fuel and diesel entirely, just when the island\u2019s hot summer season is starting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have absolutely no fuel, we have absolutely no diesel,\u201d said Vicente de la O Levy, the energy minister, on state television on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday afternoon and evening, protests broke out around Havana, after some neighborhoods in the capital had experienced blackouts lasting up to 48 hours during the week.<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s energy problems are not new and are largely due to a lack of maintenance of outdated power stations. But on top of the limited generation capacity and the poor state of the electrical grid, which partially collapsed again on Wednesday, Cuba lost its regular oil suppliers. Venezuela stopped sending free oil to Cuba after the United States captured strongman Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January, and Mexico did the same after President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening tariffs to countries selling oil to the island.<\/p>\n
It is unclear if the United States would be willing to provide fuel to Cuba as a humanitarian gesture. But if Cuba doesn\u2019t secure fuel soon enough, \u201cwe might witness a super blackout,\u201d said Jorge Pi\u00f1\u00f3n, an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin. The challenge Cuba faces is not just generating electricity but also the lack of fuel for transport and the economy in general, he added.<\/p>\n
Cuba\u2019s acceptance of the U.S. aid comes at a time when talks between the two countries were fizzling.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Rubio said he didn\u2019t believe the U.S. could bring about major changes in Cuba with the current leadership in place, signaling growing skepticism that diplomacy and sanctions would persuade the communist government to make significant reforms.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Air Force One to Fox commentator Sean Hannity on his way to China, Rubio said Cuba had a \u201cbroken, nonfunctional economy, and it\u2019s impossible to change it. I wish it were different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio had been leading back-channel negotiations with members of the Castro family in Cuba, particularly with Ra\u00fal Castro\u2019s grandson, Ra\u00fal Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez Castro, which later turned into diplomatic talks.<\/p>\n
In February, Rubio suggested Cuba needed to start reforming its economy to ease U.S. pressure. The Cuban government responded by announcing that Cubans abroad will be allowed to own private businesses on the island, but within the current legal framework. Rubio quickly dismissed the measures as \u201cnot dramatic enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fast-forward to May: Rubio did not seem optimistic that Cuba\u2019s current leadership \u2013 a mixture of Communist Party bureaucrats and generals surrounding the Castro family\u2013 can steer the country through the sort of drastic reforms the impoverished island needs to avoid total collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe \u2013 it\u2019s my personal opinion \u2013 you cannot change the economic trajectory of Cuba as long as the people who are in charge of it now are in charge of it,\u201d he told Hannity. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s going to have to change because these people have proven incapable. I hope I\u2019m wrong. We\u2019ll give them a chance. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to happen. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to be able to change the trajectory of Cuba as long as these people are in charge in that regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has offered Cuba substantial humanitarian aid, free internet and major economic deals, but has also demanded the replacement of the country\u2019s formal president, D\u00edaz-Canel, the release of political prisoners and political liberalization, among other key issues, such as the settlement of claims on property confiscated by the Cuban government.<\/p>\n
So far, however, the Cuban officials have repeatedly said the island\u2019s government will not make any political concessions. Several Herald sources have said that Cuban officials have privately signaled that the country is ready for a major economic opening, but have made clear that regime change is not on the table.<\/p>\n
This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 4:48 PM.<\/p>\n
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