Cuba says talks with Washington are under way as oil shortages bite

# Cuba says talks with Washington are under way as oil shortages bite

Event date: 2026-03-13

Havana confirms contact with Trump administration

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel has confirmed that his government is in talks with the Trump administration to try to find solutions to the two countries’ differences, while Cuba continues to face the effects of a US oil blockade, BBC News reported on 2026-03-13. The talks are still in their initial stages, but the confirmation itself matters because it acknowledges a direct channel between the two governments at a moment of acute fuel stress.

Díaz-Canel said no fuel had entered Cuba in three months, a striking indicator of how serious the shortages have become. The BBC report says the country is already experiencing several blackouts as its electrical grid struggles under the pressure of diminished reserves and disrupted imports.

The packet places the talks in a wider political context. US President Donald Trump has said Cuba is in “deep trouble” and threatened a “friendly takeover.” The White House told the BBC that the two governments were talking and that Trump believes a deal “would be very easily made.” Those comments suggest Washington is treating the issue as both a policy dispute and a pressure campaign.

Energy is at the centre of the crisis. Havana relies heavily on imported fuel for electricity, and the BBC report says the US has seized oil shipments bound for Cuba. The article also notes that Venezuela had previously supplied around 35,000 barrels a day, covering about half of Cuba’s oil needs, but that the arrangement was disrupted after US action against Venezuela in early January.

The shortages are not abstract. Díaz-Canel said the lack of fuel has steadily reduced diesel and fuel-oil reserves, making the power grid increasingly unstable. Cuba has tried to respond by increasing domestic crude and gas production and expanding solar generation, but those measures are not enough to erase the immediate problem.

The history between the two countries helps explain why the talks are politically sensitive. The US embargo and sanctions regime has been in place since the early 1960s, and the relationship has remained strained since Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed government in 1959. The packet points out that Marco Rubio, whose family has Cuban roots, is involved on the US side.

The BBC report also says Cuba will release 51 prisoners in a separate goodwill gesture after talks with the Vatican. That development is adjacent to the US discussions but distinct from them, so this article mentions it only as part of the broader diplomatic picture.

The clearest takeaway is that Cuba is facing a severe energy squeeze and is now openly negotiating with Washington in hopes of easing it. Whether that leads to any practical relief is still unknown, but the talks themselves show the pressure has become hard to ignore.