Cubans queue for water in Havana amid fuel and power crisis

HAVANA - Residents across the Cuban capital hauled buckets and lined up for water from tanker trucks as a combination ​of fuel shortages and power grid instability left thousands of taps dry.

State water utility Aguas ⁠de La Habana confirmed that pumping schedules and supply ‌operations have been disrupted by ​a lack of electricity. 

“This area is now having water problems. People are hauling water and waiting for the water truck,” ⁠said resident Lazaro Noblet, while pushing ‌a small handcart ‌loaded with containers.

“Since oil is not coming into the country, there ⁠is no pumping, because that system runs on electricity.”

The energy crunch follows a ‌spike in U.S. ‌pressure on Havana since the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuba’s primary ⁠benefactor. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has since ​cut Venezuelan ⁠oil ​shipments to Cuba and threatened tariffs on other suppliers, strangling the island’s fragile power infrastructure.

For many, however, the struggle ⁠is not new. “Our problem has existed since 2021, and now it is 2026,” said 58-year-old ⁠Maria de Jesus Rusindo, who has spent years carrying heavy containers into her home.

In other districts, Alfonso Pedro Gonzalez ⁠checked an empty roof ‌tank before turning a ​dry faucet. ‌He must boil the small amount ​of water he manages to collect from trucks.