A video posted on Facebook shows the roads of Báguanos, a municipality in the province of Holguín, practically empty of vehicles.
In the 41-second reel, the user "Radar Rey Pa" travels through the area known as "El Manguito," searching for a car but only finds a motorcycle. "Nothing shows up," the author summarizes upon witnessing the desolate landscape.
The video has amassed nearly 90,000 views and dozens of comments in which Cubans describe the situation with dark humor and resignation.
"You can take a little nap in the middle of the road and there's no problem," wrote one user. Another simply stated one word: "A desert."
The scene is not an isolated event. Since January 2026, Cuba has been experiencing its worst fuel crisis in decades. The trigger was the capture of Nicolás Maduro by the United States, which interrupted the Venezuelan supply of between 26,000 and 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Days later, on January 9, Mexico suspended its shipments under pressure from the Trump administration, leaving the Island with reserves for barely 15 to 20 days.
On January 29, Executive Order 14380, signed by Trump, formalized the energy embargo. The New York Times described the measure as the "first effective blockade by the United States since the Cuban Missile Crisis." Cuba, which only meets 40% of its consumption with domestic production, has been left vulnerable to an unprecedented collapse in recent times.
The Cuban eastern region has been particularly affected. In the municipalities of Holguín and Moa, blackouts last up to 15 hours a day, with a national deficit of up to 2,000 megawatts.
Bloomberg documented through satellite imagery a 50% decrease in nighttime light in Holguín. Interprovincial transport has been suspended in Granma, Las Tunas, Camagüey, and Holguín since February. Holguín bakeries have started using firewood due to the shortage of fuel and electricity.
At the gas stations that are still operating, the lines last up to 12 hours. Fuel on the black market reached a price of 5,000 pesos per liter of gasoline, equivalent to about 6 dollars.
The official sale is limited to gasoline B90/B94 in dollars with a maximum of 20 liters; diesel in Cuban pesos has been suspended indefinitely. The 96.4% of Cuban small and medium-sized enterprises were affected.
In March, a Russian oil tanker carrying 200,000 barrels of diesel arrived in Cuba, but the amount is insufficient to meet national demand.
In light of the magnitude of the crisis, the UN has proposed an emergency plan of 94.1 million dollars to alleviate the situation on the Island.
"If there is no car, this is how we are," wrote a user under the video of Moa, summarizing in few words what the empty streets of the Holguin municipality reveal each day.
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