Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel gestures during the BRICS summit second plenary session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 6, 2025.
Pablo Porciuncula | Afp | Getty Images
Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Wednesday lashed out at the “almost daily” threats from the U.S. and pledged to meet the Trump administration’s move to choke off the island’s fuel supplies with “unyielding resistance.”
His comments come after the communist-run island nation of roughly 10 million people partially reconnected its power grid on Tuesday evening, energy officials said, following a nationwide blackout that reportedly lasted for more than 29 hours.
Cuba’s gird operator, UNE, said on social media that it was gradually restoring electricity to all provinces and cities around the country, without providing further details on the cause of the power grid’s collapse.
The country, which is located just 90 miles from Florida, is currently facing its biggest test since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The U.S. has imposed an oil blockade on the island since January, shortly after its ally and a key provider of oil, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was seized in an audacious military operation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has effectively cut Cuba off from Venezuelan oil, called its government “an unusual and extraordinary threat“, and pledged to impose tariffs on any country that supplies it with oil.
Trump has repeatedly talked up the prospect of a “friendly takeover” of Havana in recent days, saying the White House could turn its sights on Cuba after the Iran war. The U.S. president has also said he could do anything he wanted with the country, adding that he thinks he will have the “honor” of “taking Cuba.”
Cuba suffered a widespread power cut on March 16, 2026, according to the national electricity company, against the backdrop of a severe crisis on the island caused by the US energy blockade.
Yamil Lage | Afp | Getty Images
Cuba’s Díaz-Canel sharply criticized U.S. threats against Havana in a social media post.
“They intend to… announce plans to take over the country, its resources, its properties, and even the very economy they seek to suffocate in order to force us to surrender,” Díaz-Canel said Wednesday on X, according to a Google translation.
“This is the only way to explain the fierce economic war being waged as collective punishment against the entire people. Faced with the worst-case scenario, #Cuba is guided by one certainty: any external aggressor will face unyielding resistance,” he added.
Cuba’s president confirmed talks between the country’s government and the Trump administration last week, but cautioned that any prospect of an agreement would likely take some time.
‘Discontent is gathering pace’
In addition to adopting domestic energy rationing measures, Cuba’s government has sought to dramatically increase its solar power generation amid the ongoing fuel shortage.
But analysts have warned Cuba’s pivot to renewable energy sources may ultimately prove to be a case of “too little, too late,” given the country’s failure over the years to diversify its energy mix.
“With Cuba’s electricity grid teetering on total collapse, events risk overtaking both the regime and Washington. Although loyal security forces remain capable of suppressing unrest at current levels, discontent is gathering pace,” he added.
“The US game plan for Cuba is unclear and could easily be dictated by fast-moving events rather than strategy,” Robert Munks, head of Americas research at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said in a research note.
Russia, which has been allied to Cuba for decades, sought on Tuesday to reaffirm its commitment to helping authorities in Havana amid the country’s economic crisis.
