{"id":82798,"date":"2026-02-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/humanitarian-pressures-grow-as-cuba-continues-to-struggle-with-energy-shortages\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T12:00:00","slug":"humanitarian-pressures-grow-as-cuba-continues-to-struggle-with-energy-shortages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=82798","title":{"rendered":"Humanitarian pressures grow as Cuba continues to struggle with energy shortages"},"content":{"rendered":"


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<\/p>\n

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Francisco Pich\u00f3n cited growing risks to healthcare, water services and food distribution as the country\u2019s energy reserves continue to fall.<\/p>\n

The UN\u2019s top official in Cuba told a press briefing in New York via video link from Havana, there was \u201cconcern that the crisis could deepen\u201d, with shortages creating \u201cacute humanitarian risks\u201d for vulnerable communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Multiple shocks\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The strain follows \u201cmultiple shocks\u201d, including Hurricane Melissa in October, which affected more than 2.2 million people.<\/p>\n

Cuban authorities have rolled out a month-long contingency plan to help deal with the challenges created by the fuel shortage; however, next steps are unclear, with potential for the grave situation to pose \u201ca real risk to human suffering\u201d, the Resident Coordinator said.<\/p>\n

Daily life in Cuba is \u201cbecoming fragile\u201d with essential services scaled back across the country – which relies on oil for over 90 per cent of its energy needs.<\/p>\n

Medical scare<\/strong><\/h2>\n

With five million people living with chronic illnesses, Mr Pich\u00f3n emphasised that treatments are at risk due to the current energy crisis. For example, thousands of cancer patients that need continuous oncology care and services for more than 32,000 pregnant women.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, nearly one million people \u2013 around 10 per cent of the population \u2013 get their drinking water from tanker trucks, while 84 per cent of pumping equipment depends on electricity, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Food security is also “deteriorating” with disruptions affecting the whole supply chain. Social protection is weakening whilst school programmes and elder care centres struggle to prolong services.<\/p>\n

Real risks\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cThe risk to people’s lives is not rhetorical, those who suffer first and suffer most are ordinary people, especially the most vulnerable.\u201d Mr Pich\u00f3n told reporters at the UN in New York on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amid this climate it has been increasingly difficult to reach people in need with energy scarcity driving transportation difficulties and import processes being delayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur capacities would be constrained unless there is a humanitarian carve out for oil and aid\u201d<\/p>\n

Diplomatic solution\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Looking ahead, Mr Pich\u00f3n urged the international community to address this issue through a \u201cdiplomatic effort that can be pursued with the United States\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Threats to impose tariffs on countries providing oil to Cuba have been diminished following a\u00a0Supreme Court ruling that declared it illegal for the United States to use an emergency economic law in this context.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After four Cuban nationals were killed by the Cuban Coast Guard on a US-registered speedboat following a gun battle at sea Wednesday, Mr Pich\u00f3n urged \u201crestraint to prevent escalation\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Francisco Pich\u00f3n cited growing risks to healthcare, water services and food distribution as the country\u2019s energy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1314,7994,800,2165,480,1431,3127,1067],"class_list":["post-82798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","tag-continues","tag-cuba","tag-energy","tag-grow","tag-humanitarian","tag-pressures","tag-shortages","tag-struggle"],"yoast_head":"\nHumanitarian pressures grow as Cuba continues to struggle with energy shortages - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/02\/1167046\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Humanitarian pressures grow as Cuba continues to struggle with energy shortages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gulf News| UAE's Largest News aggregator site\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/feed\/view\/en\/story\/2026\/02\/1167046\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gulf Times | News by the minute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100084981843786\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1772205002_image560x340cropped.avif\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Gulftimesuae\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"gulftimes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Humanitarian pressures grow as Cuba continues to struggle with energy shortages - 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