Cuba quantifies impact of US oil blockade on children's health and daily
life
[June 16, 2026]
By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
HAVANA (AP) — Some of Cuba’s sickest people are feeling the effects of
the U.S. energy blockade, with surgeries delayed, kidney dialysis
treatments disrupted and children with cancer facing a higher risk of
death, according to a report published Monday by Cuban state-run media.
The survival rate for children with cancer has fallen to 65% from 85%
before the energy restrictions began in January, according to the report
released by Cubadebate. It also said 100,000 children younger than 7 are
no longer receiving the daily liter of milk previously provided by the
state and that the country’s 16-vaccine immunization program for infants
is “at risk.”
Additionally, it said, another 100,000 Cubans are on waiting lists for
surgery and the treatment schedules of nearly 3,000 patients requiring
kidney dialysis have been disrupted. Regarding medication, 300 of the
395 essential medicines produced on the island are unavailable due to a
lack of chemical components required to manufacture medications.
Cuba provides free, universal healthcare, but the system has been pushed
to the brink as a result of resource shortages, fuel scarcity and power
outages that can last more than 20 hours.
Cuba spent three months without a fuel shipment after the U.S. in
January attacked Venezuela, a key supplier, and threatened tariffs on
any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
The island was already suffocating under a sharp increase in longtime
U.S. sanctions, which prevent it from importing certain goods. The Trump
administration demands that Cuba’s socialist government release
political prisoners, implement major economic reforms and change its way
of governance to avoid becoming a national security threat. Cuba has
repeatedly said it poses no threat to the U.S.
As tensions escalate between the countries, United Nations officials
have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis. In March, the organization
launched an emergency appeal to raise funds for the island, but on
Monday said several of its agencies involved with the plan were facing
“significant logistical challenges.”
The U.N. said the regional Pan American Health Organization reported
delays in shipments of antibiotics and laboratory reagents because of
flight cancellations. UNICEF said seven critical shipments of supplies
for newborns, valued at $630,000, were stalled in transit, while the
World Food Program said 2,900 metric tons of contracted food aid could
not be shipped to Cuba because of limitations imposed by shipping lines.
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A man pushes a cart of empty containers to fill with water in
Havana, Cuba, Friday, June 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
 “What we are experiencing now is a
unique situation," said Paolo Spadoni, an associate professor at
Augusta University in Georgia. “There is no doubt that there were
problems with healthcare and basic services in Cuba, but there is
also no doubt that these recent events have vastly amplified what
was already happening, and that we are now in a different
dimension.”
Spadoni acknowledged that Cuba needs reforms and is suffering from
systemic failures, but said "it is impossible to deny” that the
United States bears responsibility for the “acute humanitarian
crisis” unfolding on the island.
Monday's Cubadebate report also stated that about 1,400 megawatts of
generating capacity are offline because of shortages of diesel and
fuel oil for smaller power plants. It added that larger
thermoelectric plants need spare parts that cannot currently be
transported.
Additionally, the report said that “logistical and payment hurdles”
in wheat purchases have reduced bread supplies to about half of what
was available before the energy restrictions and that the lack of
fuel has prevented the distribution of 170 containers of essential
goods.
“Beyond numbers and coercive measures, the blockade amounts to an
extreme and unjustifiable form of collective punishment inflicted on
the Cuban people,” the report concluded.
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