People are cooking over open flames because there is no other option
Beneath the Caribbean sun, Cuba finds itself at a threshold where modernity has quietly retreated — families cooking over charcoal and firewood not as tradition but as necessity, a signal that the island's infrastructure has crossed from strain into collapse. Decades of embargo have compounded internal mismanagement to produce a cascade of failures: power plants dark, hospitals strained, ports blocked, and airlines departing. What unfolds in Cuba today is an old and unresolved argument between geopolitical will and human need, playing out in the hunger of ordinary people who did not choose this contest.
- Cuba's electrical grid has deteriorated beyond rolling blackouts into a systemic collapse, forcing citizens to abandon modern stoves for open flames and smoke — a regression visible in every kitchen.
- The Catholic Church has documented people fainting from malnutrition, while eleven thousand tons of UN food aid sits blocked at Cuban ports, unable to reach a population in acute need.
- Iberia, Air France, and Air Canada have all suspended service to the island, accelerating the contraction of tourism — the one economic lifeline that might have slowed the spiral.
- Each failure compounds the next: no fuel means no power, no power means no production, no production means no revenue, no revenue means no fuel — a closed loop tightening around the population.
- If conditions continue to deteriorate without intervention, analysts warn of escalating migration pressures that could transform Cuba's internal crisis into a broader regional emergency.
Cuba is cooking with charcoal and firewood again — not by choice, but because the electrical grid has deteriorated to the point where modern stoves are a luxury the island can no longer reliably support. Rolling blackouts have plagued the country for years, but the current shortage has crossed a threshold: hospitals are struggling, factories sit idle, and families across the island have returned to open flames to prepare their meals.
The United States embargo remains the structural constraint at the center of the crisis, restricting the fuel imports and spare parts Cuba needs to keep its aging power plants running. Without adequate diesel and heavy fuel oil, generation capacity collapses — and with it, the basic infrastructure of daily life.
The energy crisis, however, is only one thread in a larger unraveling. The Catholic Church has documented extreme hunger, with reports of people fainting from malnutrition. Eleven thousand tons of UN food aid has been positioned at Cuban ports, yet the blockade has prevented it from reaching those who need it most. The humanitarian dimension is no longer abstract — it is written in the bodies of people going without.
The airline industry has begun to withdraw. Iberia, Air France, and Air Canada have all suspended service, citing economic and operational conditions. Tourism, which had offered a fragile lifeline, is contracting — and fewer visitors means fewer dollars, which means less capacity to purchase the fuel and food the country desperately needs. The spiral tightens with each departure.
The question now is whether conditions will stabilize or continue their descent — and whether the accumulating pressure will eventually drive migration outward, transforming a national crisis into a regional one.
Cuba is cooking with charcoal and firewood again. Not by choice. The island's electrical grid has deteriorated so severely that citizens have abandoned modern stoves for methods their grandparents used, a visible marker of how far the economy has fallen in recent months. The energy crisis is not new—rolling blackouts have plagued the country for years—but the current shortage has reached a threshold where the basic infrastructure of daily life is failing.
The immediate cause is straightforward: the United States embargo continues to restrict fuel imports and spare parts, choking off the resources Cuba needs to maintain power generation. Without adequate diesel and heavy fuel oil, the island's aging power plants cannot operate at capacity. The result is a cascade of failures. Electricity is rationed. Hospitals struggle. Factories sit idle. And in kitchens across the country, families are reverting to open flames and smoke to prepare meals.
But the energy crisis is only one thread in a larger unraveling. The Catholic Church in Cuba has documented extreme hunger in the population, with reports of people fainting from malnutrition. Food scarcity is acute. The United Nations had positioned eleven thousand tons of food aid at Cuban ports, but the blockade has prevented it from reaching those who need it most. The humanitarian dimension is no longer theoretical—it is visible in the bodies of people going without adequate nutrition.
The airline industry is responding to the deterioration by withdrawing. Iberia, Air France, and Air Canada have all suspended service to the island, citing economic conditions and operational challenges. Tourism, which had been a potential lifeline for the economy, is contracting. Fewer visitors means fewer dollars flowing into the system, which means less capacity to purchase the fuel and food the country desperately needs. The economic spiral tightens.
What began as an energy problem has metastasized into a full-spectrum crisis. The shortage of electricity is forcing people to cook over charcoal and wood—a regression that symbolizes the broader collapse of modern infrastructure. The shortage of food is creating malnutrition. The shortage of economic activity is driving airlines away. Each failure reinforces the others. The government faces a situation where the basic systems that sustain a modern society are breaking down simultaneously, and the external constraints of the embargo limit the tools available to respond.
The human cost is accumulating. People are hungry. People are fainting. People are cooking over open flames in their homes because there is no other option. The question now is whether conditions will stabilize or continue to deteriorate—and whether the pressure will eventually force migration, creating a regional crisis that extends beyond Cuba's shores.
Citas Notables
The Catholic Church documented extreme hunger in the population, with reports of people fainting from malnutrition— Church reports from Cuba
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why are Cubans cooking with charcoal and firewood now, specifically? Is this a new development?
It's not entirely new—blackouts have been common for years. But what's changed is the severity and duration. The grid has degraded to the point where electricity is so unreliable that people can't depend on electric stoves. Charcoal and firewood are what you use when you have no other choice.
And the embargo is the root cause?
It's the primary constraint. The embargo blocks fuel imports and replacement parts. Without diesel and heavy fuel oil, the power plants can't run. Cuba can't generate enough electricity, so it rations what it has. The embargo doesn't cause every problem, but it sets hard limits on what solutions are possible.
The Church is reporting extreme hunger. How bad is it actually?
Bad enough that people are fainting. That's not hyperbole or political rhetoric—that's a bishop documenting what he's seeing in his parishes. When a religious institution starts reporting malnutrition, it means the food situation has moved beyond scarcity into genuine deprivation.
Why is the UN food aid stuck at the port?
Because of the blockade. Eleven thousand tons of food is sitting there, but the embargo prevents it from being distributed. It's a stark image—the aid is physically present, but policy keeps it from reaching hungry people.
Airlines are leaving. What does that mean for the economy?
Tourism was supposed to be the recovery engine. If airlines stop flying there, tourists can't arrive, which means no hard currency coming in. Without that money, Cuba can't buy the fuel and food it needs. It's a vicious cycle—economic collapse drives away airlines, which deepens the economic collapse.
Is there a way out of this?
Not without a fundamental shift in the embargo policy. The immediate crisis—the cooking, the hunger, the airline suspensions—all trace back to the inability to import fuel and food. Until that constraint changes, the spiral continues downward.