The U.S. halted oil shipments from Venezuela to Cuba in January. Later, the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs on other countries that sent oil to the island nation. There have been reports of women cooking with charcoal amid blackouts — and of a surge in solar energy interest.
Cuba is experiencing extreme fuel shortages amid an ongoing economic crisis and following U.S. government actions that the New York Times has said are "functioning as" an oil blockade.
The U.S. halted oil shipments from Venezuela to the island nation after taking President Nicolás Maduro into custody in January. In an executive order later that month, the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs on other countries that sent oil to Cuba. Mexico, long an ally of Cuba, then paused such shipments. Now, expanding cleaner energy access may be among the tools for addressing worsening conditions on the island.
Reports of blackouts there have surged in recent weeks, along with reports of critical lapses in waste management as trash trucks and other vehicles lack sufficient fuel. Aniliet Rodríguez, pregnant and hospitalized for anemia care, told the Associated Press about current health system strains in Havana: "There's no bread, no milk for nutrition … . There are no medicines." And last week, Cuban journalist Lisandra Fariñas wrote for Truthdig about "women cooking dinner in the dark with charcoal" in the capital city.
Some residents have been working to address their energy needs with solar power. A group of nuns in Havana told Agence France-Presse that they raised $7,000 to afford solar panels to power a nursing home. But inequitable access to the costly clean energy infrastructure is leaving many families to cook over open fires. This may pose health and safety risks that disproportionately impact women and children in caregiving roles and spaces.
Cuba has reportedly been working to scale up renewable energy infrastructure in recent years in an effort to address the country's vulnerability to power grid collapse caused by intensifying hurricanes and to reduce reliance on expensive and polluting fossil fuels, in line with U.N. goals. This has included efforts to expand energy access into rural and low-income communities that have not been connected to the grid. A multi-year collaboration between the Cuban and Canadian governments has aimed specifically at improving women's access to and leadership in the renewable sector.
Canada has announced plans to provide humanitarian aid to Cuba amid persistent fuel shortages. Mexican Navy ships have already delivered donations of essential items. Russia has also shown support. According to Jacobin, "the Nuestra América solidarity convoy is mobilizing to provide direct aid to the Cuban people," which is expected to include solar panels.
One of the convoy organizers, David Adler, spoke with the outlet this week about a notable expansion in renewable energy. "I was speaking with a friend just yesterday from Camagüey who was saying that she'd never seen solar in her home community," Adler said. "She was just back there two weeks ago, and there were four new providers of solar panels and production to install them in homes and institutions."
Olubusayo Ruth Akinola — Head of the Social Welfare, Drug Control, and Crime Prevention Division of the Union — exchanged emails with CG following the release of a new report from the African Union.
"We did not directly address this through these separate papers," study lead author David Luglio told CG, "but it is also important to understand if and how these wildfire and heat effects on autism development combine, especially given that they will likely co-occur in the future."
ProPublica said in late February that the agency shared it "has stopped distributing" gear containing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances following the outlet's early-February reporting that the agency knew for years its pants contained potentially harmful "forever chemicals."
"Women and girls bear disproportionate health and safety risks, including physical burns, contact with contaminated waste, and exposure to toxic emissions from plastic combustion," Chizoba Obianuju Oranu, a researcher at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, told CG.
