A man charges his phone and his fan with a solar panel during a blackout in Havana, Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

By The Canadian Press

Rubio calls for new Cuban leaders as latest blackout underscores deepening economic crisis

Mar 17, 2026 | 10:34 AM

HAVANA (AP) — The Trump administration made clear Tuesday that it sees Cuba as the next country where the U.S. can play out its desires on the world stage.

“Cuba right now is in very bad shape,” President Donald Trump said, a day after Cuba’s third nationwide blackout in four months as the socialist island’s economy suffers under U.S. sanctions.

“And we’ll be doing something with Cuba very soon,” the president added.

Until recently, Trump’s comments on change in the socialist island nation might have been considered remarkable. But they come after his administration’s audacious U.S. military raid that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, cutting off oil exports from that nation that had propped up the Cuban economy. They also follow the launch of U.S. military strikes against Iran on Feb. 28.

The administration is looking for President Miguel Díaz-Canel to leave as the U.S. continues negotiating with the Cuban government, according to a U.S. official and a source with knowledge of talks between Washington and Havana. No detail has been offered about who the administration might like to see come to power.

Many Cubans do not believe that Díaz-Canel holds much power in Cuba, anyway, as opposed to revolutionary founding father Raúl Castro and his family.

Power coming back

Electricity was slowly being restored to hospitals and some homes Tuesday afternoon, but officials warned that the crumbling power network could fail again.

The government blames its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, said the island “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They can’t fix it.”

A Cuban official said Monday that Cuba is open to trading with U.S. companies, but such promises have been made before.

“So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said. “What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it.”

The Trump administration is also demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”

While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble.

Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said on X that the island had restored the electrical system in the western town of Pinar del Rio and the southeastern province of Holguin and that some “microsystems” were beginning to operate in various territories.

State-owned media reported that by late Monday power had been restored to 5% of residents in the capital, Havana, representing some 42,000 customers.

Suffering people

The city’s residents are concerned about food spoiling and simply trying to maneuver in homes with no lighting.

“The power outages are driving me crazy,” said 48-year-old Dalba Obiedo. “Last night I fell down a 27-step staircase. Now I have to have surgery on my jaw. I fell because the lights went out.”

Havana resident Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, 61, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island. “What little we have to eat spoils,” he said. “Our people are too old to keep suffering.”

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This story has been updated to correct that Iran airstrikes began Feb. 28 and not in March.

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Seung Min Kim, Aamer Madhani and Will Weissert contributed from Washington.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Milexsy Durán, The Associated Press