Sanctions, Blackouts and Shortages Grip Cuba
UN Links Cuba’s Suffering to Oil Shipment Limits
Geneva: The recent United States measures restricting oil shipments, combined with long-standing sanctions and extreme weather events, have significantly intensified Cuba’s already severe economic crisis, pushing the country toward what United Nations (UN) officials describe as a widening human rights emergency marked by blackouts, shortages of medicines, and disruption of water, communications and health services across the island.
Speaking at the UN’s bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, Marta Hurtado, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), today said the deepening crisis was unfolding amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, the growing impact of extreme weather events, and most critically, the latest U.S. actions limiting oil shipments to Cuba. These combined pressures, she said, were having an “increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba.” Her remarks were issued through the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).
“We are extremely worried about Cuba’s deepening socio-economic crisis – amid a decades-long financial and trade embargo, extreme weather events, and the recent U.S. measures restricting oil shipments,” Hurtado told reporters. “This is having an increasingly severe impact on the human rights of people in Cuba.”
According to the UN, the restriction of oil flows has struck at the backbone of Cuba’s essential services, which depend heavily on imported fossil fuels. Hurtado explained that the scarcity of fuel has placed the availability of health, food and water systems at risk nationwide. Hospitals are struggling to operate under an unstable electricity supply, and the impact is being felt most acutely in intensive care units and emergency rooms. She warned that the production, delivery and storage of vaccines, blood products and other temperature-sensitive medicines are being compromised because refrigeration and transport networks cannot function reliably without fuel.
“In Cuba, more than 80 per cent of water pumping equipment depends on electricity, and power cuts are undermining access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene,” she said. “The electricity cuts also affect communications and access to information.”
The UN linked these cascading failures directly to the tightening of external pressures on Cuba’s energy supply. With oil imports sharply reduced following U.S. restrictions, the country has been unable to sustain stable electricity generation. Rolling blackouts have become routine, disrupting daily life and forcing authorities to ration power among hospitals, factories and households. Transport services have slowed dramatically, affecting the distribution of food and medical supplies, while schools and workplaces operate intermittently.
Hurtado said the long-term and sustained impact of sectoral sanctions, now compounded by recent U.S. measures and the strain of extreme weather events, has created economic hardship and weakened the State’s capacity to fulfil its core responsibilities. “The long-term, sustained impact of sectoral sanctions creates economic hardship and weakens the State’s capacity to fulfil its core responsibilities, including providing protection and assistance services,” she said, adding that “this increases the risk of fueling social disruption in Cuba.”
The broader economic picture reflects this strain. The national currency has sharply depreciated on informal markets, eroding wages and leaving many families unable to afford basic food and medicines. Tourism, once a key source of foreign exchange, has been hit by fuel shortages that affect flights and hotel operations, further reducing the government’s ability to import essential goods. Migration has continued as Cubans seek work and stability abroad, draining the workforce at a time when public services are already overstretched.
While highlighting the impact of U.S. measures, the UN also urged Cuban authorities to manage the crisis in line with international human rights law. Hurtado said the State must be attentive to the needs of the most vulnerable and prioritise mediation and de-escalation, while safeguarding the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression for all.
She reiterated the position of Volker Türk, who has called on all countries to lift unilateral sectoral measures that have a broad and indiscriminate impact on civilian populations. “Policy goals cannot justify actions that in themselves violate human rights,” Hurtado said, quoting Türk.
The UN’s intervention came as Washington outlined its own response to the worsening situation in Cuba, combining continued political pressure with stepped-up humanitarian assistance delivered outside Cuban state channels. In a media note issued on February 5, the United States Department of State announced an additional six million dollars in direct assistance for the Cuban people, building on a previously released three-million-dollar tranche of disaster relief.
U.S. officials said the aid would be delivered through a partnership with the Catholic Church and Caritas, using pre-packaged commodities transported from Miami and distributed by local parish representatives. According to the State Department, this method has been chosen to ensure that assistance reaches vulnerable communities without interference or diversion by Cuban authorities. The statement warned that the Cuban government “must not make any effort to interfere with the provision of this lifesaving support” and said the United States would remain vigilant in tracking any obstruction of its aid efforts.
Details released earlier by the State Department show that the first three million dollars in disaster assistance, announced in mid-January, was aimed at helping families affected by Hurricane Melissa. That support is expected to reach an estimated 6,000 families, or about 24,000 people, in the hardest-hit provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Holguín, Granma and Guantánamo. Charter flights carrying food kits and hygiene and water-treatment supplies departed from Miami on January 14 and January 16 for Holguín and Santiago de Cuba, while a commercial vessel scheduled to dock in Santiago de Cuba is to carry the remaining assistance in the coming weeks. The aid package includes rice, beans, oil and sugar to meet basic nutritional needs, water-purification tablets and storage containers for safe drinking water, kitchen sets such as pots and cooking utensils, and household items including sheets, blankets and solar lanterns to provide lighting during power outages.
The State Department said it was working closely with church networks to ensure transparency and accountability and to prevent regime interference. It added that beyond the current tranche of assistance, the United States stands ready to expand direct humanitarian support further if conditions allow, while maintaining pressure on Havana to permit the aid to flow unimpeded.
At the same time, the White House has rejected claims that U.S. policy is responsible for Cuba’s economic collapse, arguing that shortages of food and basic supplies stem primarily from internal economic mismanagement. Senior U.S. officials have publicly urged Cuban authorities to “focus on providing for their people” and have framed the crisis as one that will not ease unless Havana agrees to negotiate an end to tensions. Washington has maintained that it will continue political and economic pressure alongside limited humanitarian relief, a stance that contrasts with the UN’s call for lifting unilateral sectoral measures.
The UN’s assessment places the spotlight squarely on the role of external pressure in aggravating Cuba’s internal economic weaknesses. By restricting access to oil, the United States has, in the UN’s view, accelerated the breakdown of electricity, water, communications and health systems and transformed a prolonged economic downturn into a humanitarian concern with direct consequences for the Cuban population’s most basic rights.
As shortages of fuel, food and medicine persist, UN officials warned that without a change in policies affecting Cuba’s access to energy and trade, and without protection measures focused on the most vulnerable, the crisis is likely to deepen further, with growing risks to social stability and the well-being of millions of people across the island.
– global bihari bureau
