Oil, the crisis crushing Cuba and giving Trump new leverage

"The lack of electricity not only plunges physical spaces into darkness, but it also dulls the mind. Life has been scaled back as much as possible: you can hear children shouting as they play in the street now that schools are closed; adults no longer get up to go to work; people walk for miles because there is no transportation; and business owners ask one another how much fuel they still have stored."

"Cubans have stopped counting the hours they're without power and have started measuring the time by how long it will take for power to come back for good. Life slips away, and you feel like you can't see clearly beyond a single step, says Cuban editor and psychologist Juliette Isabel Fernandez."

"For now, there are no tankers at sea heading toward Cuba, except for the Sea Horse, he says. The Sea Horse is a Russian tanker carrying 200,000 barrels of diesel that is apparently on its way to the island now that the more than 30,000 barrels of Venezuelan crude that used to arrive daily and the more than 17,000 that came from Mexico are no longer reaching Cuba."

Cuba is experiencing prolonged blackouts that have fundamentally altered daily life across the nation. The power crisis stems from drastically reduced oil imports, as Venezuela's 30,000 barrels and Mexico's 17,000 barrels of daily crude shipments have stopped arriving. Citizens have abandoned normal routines—schools are closed, workplaces empty, and transportation has halted, forcing people to walk long distances. The psychological toll is significant, with darkness affecting both physical spaces and mental clarity. Energy experts monitor the situation daily, tracking the arrival of the Russian tanker Sea Horse carrying 200,000 barrels of diesel as Cuba's primary hope for fuel relief. The crisis has become so severe that survival is now measured in oil reserves.

Read at english.elpais.com