Aussies warned against visiting Cuba as island on edge of crisis

Australians have been urged to avoid travelling to Cuba as the country hovers on the edge of fuel collapse and angry protests erupt.

The government's Smartraveller website said Australians visiting Cuba should reconsider their decision.

"Fuel shortages and frequent power outages are affecting transport and other services. Nationwide power blackouts are occurring. Some airlines have reduced or cancelled flights," the warning read.

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"The situation could deteriorate quickly without warning and options to leave the country may reduce further."

Smartraveller also noted Cuba was short on essential supplies, "including food, medicines, and drinking water".

"Demonstrations and protests against the government can occur. Some can turn violent, causing injuries and deaths. They may occur anywhere across the country," the warning read.

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"Avoid protests and demonstrations."

Smartraveller's update comes on the heels of a warning from Cuba's energy minister that the country's woes are about to become even more critical.

A Russian donation of oil in late March has been exhausted, Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said in a special televised appearance on Wednesday night local time.

"The situation is very tense, it's becoming hotter," de la O Levy said on Cuban state-run TV, referring to the scorching summer months on the Caribbean island that drive up demand for energy.

In recent days, small groups of Cubans have taken to the streets, often at night, banging pots and pans to protest longer energy cuts.

The grim-faced official repeated several times that oil reserves to run the island's beleaguered electrical grid were all but spent.

"We have absolutely no diesel," he said.

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Following the US attack on Cuba's oil-rich ally Venezuela in January and the Trump administration's declaration that the Cuban government presents a threat to US national security, the communist-run island has faced an oil blockade.

Other than the one shipload of donated Russian oil, Cuban officials say they have been cut off from any oil shipments by the US for more than four months.

That oil donation was used up in early May and Cubans are regularly suffering blackouts that last most of the day if not the entire day.

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Some Cubans now complain they don't receive enough power to charge items like electric mopeds or even phones. Many people wake in the middle of the night – during the brief moments there is electricity – to do basic tasks like laundry and cooking.

While de la O Levy said the island was increasingly using solar power thanks to panels donated by China, he said cloud cover and weather conditions often means that the power generated fluctuates greatly.

Without costly batteries to store the electricity generated by the panels, they do not provide any respite in the night-time hours during peak demand.

"In Havana, the blackouts now exceed 20-22 hours (per day)," de la O Levy said.

The Trump administration is attempting to force the Cuban government to open the island politically and economically, and oust top leadership in order for economic sanctions to be lifted.

President Donald Trump has said the Cuban government is on the verge of collapse and that he is considering using military force to take the island.

Cuban officials have angrily refuted the pressure campaign and promised to resist any military intervention with force.

On Wednesday, a State Department news release said the US was offering the island $100 million in aid, to carry out "meaningful reforms to Cuba's communist system."

"The decision rests with the Cuban regime to accept our offer of assistance or deny critical living-saving aid and ultimately be accountable to the Cuban people for standing in the way of critical assistance," the release said.

The Cuban government said Thursday it is "ready to listen" to aid offer, although it stressed that it does not have specific details about the State Department's proposal.

"It is still not clear whether this would be a material or in (cash) assistance, or if it would be destined to meet the most pressing needs facing the people at this moment, in terms of fuel, food and medicines," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said on X.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said such an offer would encounter "no obstacles or ingratitude from Cuba," but he insisted that there's an alternative solution to the crisis.

"Incidentally, the damage could be alleviated in a much easier and more expeditious way by lifting or easing the blockade," he wrote on X.

With CNN.

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