A planned shipment of 250,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel from a Florida company to Cuba—expected to be the largest US fuel delivery to the island since the early 1960s—was effectively halted after the US expanded sanctions against Cuba’s state oil company, CUPET. The new restrictions created uncertainty about whether the fuel could legally be imported and distributed.
The shipment was intended to help ease Cuba’s severe energy crisis, which has caused fuel shortages and widespread power outages, according to Bloomberg. The sanctions are part of a broader US effort to increase pressure on Cuba’s government, but they also complicate efforts to bring much-needed fuel to the island.
