Cuba’s president meets with US lawmakers amid island’s energy crisis

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel met with US Democratic representatives in Havana, where they discussed the effects of Washington’s energy blockade against the Caribbean island nation.

Representatives Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Jonathan Jackson of Illinois also met with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez and members of parliament during their five-day trip that ended Sunday.

“Upon receiving U.S. congressmembers @RepJayapal and @rep_jackson, I denounced the criminal damage caused by the #blockade, particularly the consequences of the energy siege decreed by the current U.S. government and its threats of even more aggressive actions. I reiterated the willingness of our Government to sustain a serious and responsible bilateral dialogue and to find solutions to the existing differences,” Diaz-Canel said on the US social media company X’s platform.

In a joint statement, the Democratic lawmakers described the actions by the Trump administration as causing “untold suffering.”

"This is cruel collective punishment — effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country — that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately," they said.

During their visit, the lawmakers reported seeing premature infants clinging to life and at risk because their incubators could not function without electricity, cancer patients unable to receive treatment, children missing school, water shortages and a sharp drop in food production.

Following a three-month halt in oil shipments due to tightened US sanctions, a Russian tanker, the Anatoly Kolodkin, recently delivered around 730,000 barrels of crude to Cuba.

Venezuela and Mexico -- longstanding energy suppliers to the island -- have stopped sending oil, fearing sanctions and further intervention by the US.