Cuba is set to roll out a plan to deal with fuel shortages as the United States blocks supplies to the country.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced his intentions on Thursday to roll out a plan as early as next week.
He said the island nation would ramp up solar generation and use renewable resources to ensure electricity for vital services, including hospitals, elderly care centres and isolated regions.
Cuba produces about 1,000 megawatts, or 38 percent of its daytime generation, from solar panels, Diaz-Canel said in a news conference. They had been installed with support from China over the past two years.
Diaz-Canel said Cuba was working to increase its crude oil extraction and storage capacity to boost self-sufficiency.
But he said Cuba also had the “right” to receive sea-bound deliveries of fuel.
“We will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure that the country can once again receive fuel imports,” he said.
Tensions surged last week after the US threatened to slap tariffs on countries that send oil to the Caribbean nation. As a result, Cubans have faced surging food and transportation costs and blackouts across the country.
Diaz-Canel described the situation as “complex” as he called the US stance “aggressive and criminal”, saying it’s affecting things like transportation, hospitals, schools, tourism and the production of food.
“We are going to take measures that, while not permanent, will require effort. Some … are restrictive, requiring us to adjust consumption and promote savings. There are things we have to stop, or postpone, in order to continue functioning in essential areas,” Diaz-Canel said in a wide-ranging, two-hour televised press conference.
Cuban officials recently lauded a phone call they had with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, although they did not share details of what transpired in the conversation. Meanwhile, Mexico has pledged to send humanitarian aid, including food, after US President Donald Trump said that he asked Mexico to suspend oil shipments to the island.
“How do we till our soil? How do we move around? How do we keep our kids in classes without fuel?” Diaz-Canel asked.
Trump said last month that Cuba would no longer receive oil from its biggest supplier, Venezuela.
A substation failure caused a total blackout on Wednesday night in five provinces in eastern Cuba as the island’s government struggles to keep the lights on with dwindling fuel supplies and failing infrastructure.
A diplomatic push
Diaz-Canel on Thursday reiterated prior statements from Cuba’s Foreign Ministry agreeing to talk with the US, but with conditions.
“Cuba is willing to engage in dialogue, but with the sole demand that the US government not attempt to interfere in Cuba’s internal affairs, nor undermine our sovereignty,” the Cuban president said.
Cuba’s top diplomat to the US, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, told the Reuters news agency this week that Cuba had begun communicating with the US government but had yet to establish a formal bilateral dialogue.
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