Cuba refuses to let US Embassy in Havana import diesel for its generators

WASHINGTON– The Cuban government has refused a request from the U.S. Embassy in Havana to allow it to import diesel for its generators while the Trump administration continues to impose a fuel blockade on the island, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said Friday.

The government rejected the request, with the US State Department considering reducing staff at the embassy in Havana, the Cuban capital, due to a lack of diesel. Such a move would likely lead the United States to demand a similar reduction in staff at the Cuban embassy in Washington, say the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue.

The Cuban government’s rejection was first reported by the Washington Post.

The White House, State Department and Cuban Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Cuba has grappled with dwindling oil since the United States deposed Venezuela’s leader, cutting off critical oil shipments from the country that was a staunch ally of Havana. President Donald Trump then threatened to impose tariffs on any country selling or supplying oil to Cuba.

The island relies on its own natural gas, solar power and oil to run its thermoelectric plants, but that hasn’t been enough to meet demand.

Many of the country’s 11 million people struggle to keep food from spoiling. Hospitals canceled surgeries. The main university has reduced its classes due to power and transport outages.

The diesel standoff comes as Trump pushes for sweeping change in the government led by Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said they saw the island nation as the next country where the United States could expand its influence.

They demand, in part, that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in exchange for lifting sanctions.

The Trump administration is seeking Díaz-Canel to leave his post, the Associated Press previously reported. No details were given on who the administration would like to see come to power.

Trump has been suggesting for months that the Cuban government is on the verge of collapse. After Cuba’s power grid collapsed earlier this week, causing an island-wide blackout, Trump told reporters he believed he would soon have “the honor of taking Cuba.”

“Taking Cuba in one form or another…whether I liberate it or I take it, I think I can do whatever I want with it, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “It is currently a very weakened nation.”

Trump suggested that top Cuban leaders would be smart about avoiding the fate of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was ousted in a U.S. military operation in January and taken to New York to face federal drug conspiracy charges. Venezuela was Cuba’s closest ally and supplied it with heavily subsidized oil.

A possible reduction in embassy staffing is not expected to occur immediately because the United States estimates it has enough diesel in reserve to last another month, according to an official.

There are few options for exploiting Cuba’s fuel reserves, which are tightly controlled by the government.

For example, one of the officials said that the Spanish embassy in Havana had a large surplus of fuel and had offered it to other European embassies facing similar shortages, but was denied permission to do so by Cuban authorities.

The reserves of the Spanish embassy were reinforced by the previous importation of diesel intended for the Spanish hotels on the island. Most, if not all, of these hotels are currently closed due to the lack of tourists visiting Cuba.

Díaz-Canel said last week that Cuba had held negotiations with the U.S. government. It was the first time the Caribbean country confirmed widespread speculation about talks with the Trump administration, amid the Republican administration’s pressure campaign.

Humanitarian organizations began delivering aid to Cuba by air on Friday, including solar panels, food and medicine.

Cuba is also preparing to receive a shipment of Russian oil later this month, which would be its first shipment in the past three months.