Cuba says international airlines can no longer refuel there as Trump turns up the pressure

The island nation’s leadership said Sunday that Cuba will run out of aviation fuel from Monday, likely disrupting operations airlines operating there, according to EFE news agency, citing two sources.

The kerosene shortage is expected to persist for the next month, with all of Cuba’s international airports affected.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry and the Cuban Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Trump, in an executive order issued at the end of January, said the Cuban government constituted “an unusual and extraordinary threat,” which required a national emergency declaration.

The U.S. president said that Cuba’s ties to countries including China, Russia and Iran, human rights violations and communist leadership destabilize the region “through migration and violence.”

As part of the announcement, Trump said U.S. tariffs may target countries that provides any oil to Cuba, whether directly or indirectly.

The Trump administration has sought to tighten the U.S. chokehold on Cuba since Jan. 3, when it conducted an audacious military operation to depose Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a long-time ally of Cuba’s government.

Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said the country’s leadership condemned Washington’s tariff threats in the “strongest possible terms.”

In a statement posted on Jan. 30, Parrilla also accused the U.S. government of resorting to “blackmail and coercion in an attempt to make other countries to join its universally condemned blockade policy against Cuba.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that her government would aim to send humanitarian aid to Cuba from Monday, adding that the country is working to find a diplomatic solution to resume oil shipments to the Caribbean island.

Mexico had previously paused shipments of crude and refined products to Cuba amid pressure from the Trump administration.