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By G. A. McNeeley
Image: Havana, Cuba by Anselmo Guvaldo via Pixabay
March 17, 2026 (Washington D.C.) -- Cuba’s power grid has collapsed, leaving the island nation without power CNN reports, as the result of a U.S. blockade that has shut off oil to the Caribbean nation.
Speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said regarding the prospects of taking over or liberating Cuba, “I think I can do anything I want.”
The fervent, if intermittent, hostilities between the United States and Cuba spanning six decades have been marked by pressure campaigns, antagonism, and the occasional bursts of violence, according to USA Today.
Tensions between the two countries escalated, as President Donald Trump imposed new sanctions and tariffs on the Caribbean nation, and after the U.S. military operation that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is a Cuban ally.
Trump\s aggressive actions came despite his predecessor, President Joe Biden, easing sanctions on Cuba and removing Cuba from the state-sponsored terrorism list, also reopening trade and travel to Cuba in efforts to normalize relations.
The Independent reports that Trump has now also threatened to impose duties on goods from countries that export oil to Cuba. He’s also urged them to “make a deal,” or face unspecified repercussions.
Time Magazine reported that despite Trump running in 2024 on a campaign that swore to avoid dragging the U.S. into foreign wars, there are numerous countries and areas he’s ordered strikes on during his second term including Iran, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, Venezuela, as well as ships in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
What Trump has been saying about Cuba
NPR reports that on March 7, Trump launched the Shield of the Americas Summit, a coalition of Latin American leaders. In attendance at that meeting were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad & Tobago.
tThe White House claimed the coalition is committed to cooperating with the U.S. in taking on cartels and securing the American border, following the United States’ capture of Maduro, ABC News reports
"As we achieve a historic transformation in Venezuela, we're also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba," Trump said, according to ABC News. "They're very much at the end of the line. They have no money. They have no oil. They have a bad philosophy. They have a bad regime that's been bad for a long time."
USA Today reported that Trump had previously said in late February that there could be a "friendly takeover of Cuba," as fuel shortages squeezed Havana's government.
Reuters reports that no fuel has entered Cuba in three months, according to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who said during a press conference with the Cuban media on Friday, March 13, which resulted in a decline in diesel and fuel oil reserves that have made Cuba's electrical grid increasingly "unstable," he said, days before the grid collapsed.
USA Today adds that Trump has called on Cuban leaders to "make a deal," and said Secretary of State Marco Rubio is engaging at "a very high level" with Havana.
“They want to negotiate, and they are negotiating with Marco and myself and some others, and I would think a deal would be made very easily with Cuba,” Trump added, according to USA Today. “Cuba's in its last moments of life as it was. It'll have a great new life, but it's in its last moments of life the way it is.”
Cuban President confirms a private meeting was held with the U.S.
CNN reports that Cuban officials have held talks with the United States, and Díaz-Canel confirmed so on Friday, March 13, as the island continues to face an economic crisis and intense pressure from Trump.
“There are international factors that have facilitated these talks,” Díaz-Canel said in a video broadcast on Friday, March 13, on national television, according to CNN. He added that the purpose was to “identify the bilateral problems that need a solution.”
Díaz-Canel added that the talks with the U.S. were led by him, along with former President Raúl Castro, and some other members of his Communist Party, although he didn’t specify who participated on behalf of the United States.
What are the effects of the fuel crisis on Cuba?
The BBC reports that in the wake of the recent U.S. military action in Venezuela, its closest regional ally, Cuba, has lost its main source of crude oil. Additionally, under pressure from The Trump Administration, none of Cuba's other energy partners have been able to step up to fill the breach in oil supply left in Venezuela's absence.
With only a small part of the state's garbage trucks operating, rubbish is piled up high in the streets. Amid fears of a widespread public health crisis, some residents have begun burning rubbish piles at night, filling the streets with acrid smoke.
The BBC added that even in more affluent parts of the capital, Havana, people have been cooking with firewood during the blackouts. The lack of fuel isn’t just affecting cars, but it’s also affecting generators.
Few residents have solar panels or any other option beyond the country's crumbling electrical grid. The island's thermo-energy plants simply can’t generate enough electricity for domestic consumption without more crude oil.
The BBC reports that given the pain being experienced by the Cuban people, some limited steps have been authorised by the government to allow the country's private sector to import the fuel they need to run their businesses. However, Cubans remain sceptical if this will make any significant difference, since these imports only represent a fraction of what the island needs to operate.
Since the weather has been cool in Cuba recently, people are at least able to sleep without power. However, many are worried about how people will react to living through the island's intense summer temperatures without air-conditioning or fans.
What have Democratic leaders said about Trump’s Cuban remarks?
The Hill reports that Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Representative James McGovern (D-Massachusetts) wrote a letter to Trump, questioning his foreign policy initiatives in Cuba.
“The situation in Cuba is dire. Given that Cuba poses no credible national security threat to the United States, we urge you to lift the oil embargo on Cuba immediately to prevent unnecessary human suffering and reduce the potential for a regional refugee crisis,” they wrote in their letter, according to The Hill. “Your escalation of the embargo and use of tariffs to starve a nation of critical resources are forms of economic coercion without a defensible rationale.”
Representative Ro Khanna (D-California) said that "Trump should pursue diplomacy with Cuba and respect its sovereignty,” in a post on X. “A deal would allow American and Cuban entrepreneurs to invest in Cuba and help Cuba recover and modernize economically, Newsweek reports.
Representative Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois) said that “there is nothing 'friendly' about an invasion,” in a post on X. “It is unlawful and a violation of international law. Trump's threats reflect the US's legacy of interventionism in Latin America, which has led to human rights violations, democratic backsliding, economic destabilization, and mass migration. We must reclaim Congress’ powers and hold the warmongers accountable."
What has Secretary of State Marco Rubio said about the Cuba crisis?
“Cuba’s status quo is unacceptable,” Rubio said late last February, according to NBC News. “It needs to change, and it doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change from one day to the next… Everyone is mature and realistic.”
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, insists that the island needed to change dramatically, especially to improve quality of life for its people.
“They need to make dramatic reforms, and if they want to make those dramatic reforms that open the space for both economic and eventually political freedom for the people of Cuba, obviously the United States would love to see that,” Rubio added, according to NBC News.
What has Cuba’s President said about Trump’s threats?
USA Today reported that Miguel Díaz-Canel recently denounced Trump's remarks on X, writing that the summit and the coalition point to an acceptance of “the lethal use of U.S. military force to solve internal problems” by the Latin American leadership attendees.
“It is an attack against the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a (Zone of Peace), an attack on the aspirations for regional integration, and a manifestation of the willingness to subordinate to the interests of the powerful neighbor of the North under the precepts of the Monroe Doctrine,” he said, according to USA Today.
Trump has repeatedly linked U.S. action to the Monroe Doctrine, which is one of the most consequential U.S. foreign policy agendas from the 19th century, which outlined how the U.S. government considered South and Central America a strategic “backyard,” or a region that should fall under American influence rather than European influence.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/16/americas/cuba-power-grid-collapse-intl-latam
https://time.com/7382074/countries-trump-has-ordered-strikes-on-second-term/
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/07/nx-s1-5741132/trump-cuba-venezuela-cooperation-summit
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/13/americas/cuba-president-us-talks-intl
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14m5mj055jo
https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-responds-to-cuba-deal-question-11655325
https://x.com/DiazCanelB/status/20304013112465245
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