Many travelers are left stranded by the suspension of most national bus routes
14ymedio, Havana, February 8, 2026 – Nearly empty streets, with barely a few cars moving about, and hotels where only a handful of windows remain lit in the Havana night. That is the image captured by 14ymedio reporters following the measures announced by the Cuban government to confront the current crisis. The Island’s economy, which had been in free fall long before, is now bordering on total collapse after the loss of its Venezuelan benefactor and the entry into force of an executive order by U.S. President Donald Trump that blocks the arrival of oil to the country.
The package of decisions, presented as a “contingency plan,” has had an immediate impact on daily life. The drastic reduction in fuel consumption has emptied the streets, limited transportation, and reinforced the sense of paralysis. The capital, traditionally the last stronghold to feel the harshest cutbacks, now appears plunged into a gloom the rest of the country has endured for years.
Many passengers who traveled to other provinces to visit family members have been left stranded, uncertain about how or when they will be able to return home. This is the case of Amalia, a resident of Havana who was in Sancti Spíritus, in the center of the Island. In the WhatsApp group where she was trying to secure a seat, the bus driver warned that if he could not fill the available seats, the trip would be canceled. “There’s no fuel in all of Santa Clara,” he wrote. “If we don’t leave today, it’s possible we won’t be able to leave at all.”
One of the hardest-hit sectors is tourism, for years presented as the engine of the economy. The regime has begun closing hotels and relocating tourists to other facilities, an unprecedented decision in the middle of the high season. Vice Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga spoke on state television about “compacting” the tourism infrastructure to reduce energy consumption, but without offering clear details. In practice, sources in the sector anonymously confirmed to EFE the closure of facilities and the transfer of visitors starting this Saturday, especially in Varadero and the northern cays.
The measure directly affects foreign hotel chains operating on the Island, including Spain’s Meliá and Iberostar, as well as Canada’s Blue Diamond Resorts. The scene of half-empty hotels and darkened hallways contrasts with the official discourse that insists on shielding tourism as a strategic sector, even at the expense of other areas of the economy.
The figures confirm that the problem is not temporary. In 2025, Cuba closed with barely 1.8 million international visitors, the worst figure since 2002 if the pandemic years are excluded. Hotel occupancy fell to 21.5% in the first half of the year, and the main source markets, Canada and Russia, also declined. Far behind are the 4.7 million tourists reached in 2018 during the thaw with the United States.
The energy crisis is the immediate trigger of this new collapse. Since mid-2024, constant breakdowns at obsolete thermoelectric plants and the lack of hard currency to import fuel have pushed the system to the brink. Added to this was the geopolitical blow in January from the U.S. military operation in Caracas, which cut off a vital supply for Havana, and the subsequent executive order by Donald Trump threatening sanctions against countries that sell oil to the Island.
To face this scenario, the government has turned to a familiar manual: fuel rationing, prioritization of telework, hybrid classes at universities, and the suspension of scheduled surgeries in hospitals—a sign of how far the energy crisis has already reached into essential services. This is accompanied by an explicit appeal to Fidel Castro’s “guidelines” during the Special Period. His successor in power, Miguel Díaz-Canel, even revived the concept of “option zero,” that survival plan designed for a scenario of “zero oil.”
However, more than three decades later, the context is different and, in some respects, more fragile. The economy is exhausted, the productive fabric devastated, and the population lacks the resilience it had in the 1990s. The result is a society subjected to forced contraction, where every “temporary” measure is perceived as the prelude to something worse.
Adding to this panorama is another collapse: that of the Ticket platform, used for fuel distribution, which can only be purchased with dollars at Cimex service stations. The inclusion of new virtual waiting rooms caused congestion that left thousands of users without clear information or effective access to the service. Informal channels are now trying to organize the chaos, confirming that even the State’s digital solutions buckle under the magnitude of the crisis.
The video of semi-dark hotels in Havana is the most faithful representation of a country entering survival mode, where tourism shrinks, transportation disappears, and night advances over buildings that once symbolized a luxury reserved for the privileged. Against the official discourse of resilience and opportunity, reality shows that collapse is no longer merely announced. It is seen and felt on every street of the Island.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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