HAVANA (AP) — The Russian vessel Anatoly Kolodkin docked Tuesday at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had allowed the shipment to proceed despite its ongoing energy blockade.
Cubans including Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy cheered the ship’s arrival. A shortage of petroleum has exacerbated
a deep economic crisis that has left the population mired in long blackouts and facing a severe shortage of food and medicine.
“Our gratitude to the Government and People of Russia for all the support we are receiving. A valuable shipment that arrives amidst the complex energy situation we are facing,” de la O Levy wrote on X.
Cuba produces barely 40% of its required fuel and relies on imports to sustain its energy grid. Experts say the anticipated shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.
"The arrival of an oil tanker to a country has likely never generated so much news as the Russian one to Cuba," wrote Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío on X. “It’s a sign of the brutal siege Cubans endure with heroism and stoicism. It’s a demonstration of the criminal cruelty of imperialism against a nation that refuses to be dominated.”
Cuba used to receive most of its oil from Venezuela, but those shipments were halted ever since the U.S. attacked the South American country and arrested its leader in early January.
Since then, Mexico also has halted its oil shipments to Cuba as Trump threatened in late January to impose tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island.
