The Cuban Ministry of Public Health denounced this Monday, February 16, through state media, that more than 32,000 pregnant women face greater risks, amid the Donald Trump Government's blockade of the supply of oil, and therefore fuel, to the island. Havana points out serious effects on maternal and child health services, from access to ultrasounds to the timely diagnosis of malformations.
First modification: 02/16/2026 - 15:58 Last modification: 02/17/2026 - 04:28
The consequences of the oil blockade by the United States and therefore the supply of energy and fuel are deepening for Cuban citizens.
This Monday, February 16, through the state newspaper Granma, the Ministry of Public Health highlighted that more than 32,000 pregnant women now face greater risks to their health and that of their babies, because energy outages limit basic medical services.
Among them, the Cuban Government highlights difficulties in pregnant women's access to obstetric ultrasounds to monitor fetal well-being and genetics, for the timely diagnosis of malformations.
Likewise, the energy deficit limits the "mobilization of commissions to care for extremely serious maternal morbidity and critical neonates, delay in the childhood vaccination schedule, puts the lives of children with special needs at risk (home ventilation, mechanical aspiration and air conditioning), among other problems, such as the very limited availability of medical transportation to care for emergency cases."
In addition to pregnant women, Havana highlights that these effects could negatively impact more than 61,830 children under one year of age, who require special attention in this first phase of life.
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These damages to maternal and child health add to the multiple difficulties faced by the citizens of the already impoverished country, which has left its inhabitants in longer blackouts and forced the closure of hotels and the suspension of flights of several airlines given the shortage of fuel for aircraft.
The crisis worsened since the United States attacks on Venezuelan soil that ended with the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, until then a strong ally and largest supplier of fuel to the island. After his transfer to New York to answer charges of alleged drug trafficking, Washington forced Caracas to suspend the delivery of oil to Cuba and threatened higher tariffs on any country that decides to supply energy coverage for the island.
Read alsoMore than half of Cuba spends a Sunday in the dark; The US captures an oil tanker in the Indian Ocean
Spain receives the Cuban Foreign Minister to analyze the crisis on the island
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, receives his Cuban counterpart, Bruno Rodríguez, this Monday, February 16, in Madrid, sources from the Spanish Foreign Ministry confirmed to the EFE news agency.
The head of Cuban diplomacy, who was visiting China to gather support for the energy blockade imposed by the United States, has requested an interview with Albares, taking advantage of his time in the Spanish capital on his return to his country.
The meeting will focus on the situation in Cuba and both ministers will also address the next Ibero-American Summit, which will take place on November 4 and 5 in Madrid.
Rodríguez's visit to Beijing was part of a tour with which the Cuban Government seeks the support of its traditional allies, which also include Russia and Vietnam, after the United States has increased pressure against the island, whose regime it promises to shake.
Read alsoLatin American aid to Cuba begins to flow, while the crisis and tension with the US worsen.
The US seeks to dismantle Cuban medical missions in the Americas: EFE
Washington's pressure on Havana is not limited to oil: a dozen countries, mainly Caribbean and Central American, have closed or reduced their contracts with Cuba in the last year to receive doctors due to the US insistence that they not collaborate in practices that it calls "forced labor."
The new US sanctions against medical brigades have been received with concern and rejection in Latin America and, especially, the Caribbean.
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago initially defended these programs, vital for their health systems, but later had to readjust their ties with Havana and make changes to the contracting terms.
A source from the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) explained to EFE that some of the islands have decided to suspend the program, while others are still filing complaints with the United States.
The Bahamas announced last June the suspension of the hiring of Cuban medical personnel and the cancellation of its current agreements with Havana, with the idea of starting to hire health personnel directly, something that has not materialized for the moment.
Grenada reported last September that it would equate the conditions of Cuban doctors to those of its nationals, and Antigua and Barbuda announced in January that it had recruited 120 nurses from Ghana, although without expressly ending its agreement with Cuba.
Guyana quietly ended the system this February, according to local media. Trinidad and Tobago, for its part, has announced that its priority now is to recruit local professionals. Since 2003, a total of 770 Cuban doctors have worked in the country.
The US maneuver has drastic economic consequences, because the export of professional services has for years been one of the island's three main sources of foreign currency income, with tourism and remittances, all of them affected by pressure from Washington.
The medical brigades - which started more than six decades ago and have taken 600,000 professionals to 165 countries, according to official data - are a controversial mechanism that combines advantages for the parties involved, but with questioned methods.
On the one hand, host countries have access to qualified health personnel and can quickly and efficiently improve their countries' health systems. In addition, displaced doctors obtain a salary in dollars better than what they receive in their country and the Cuban Government generates foreign currency (which it claims to use in its own health system).
On the other hand, according to NGOs such as Prisoners Defenders, Havana keeps an average of 85% of the payment from the host countries, retains the passports of doctors abroad and penalizes those who leave the mission before the agreed time.
For this reason, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, described this system as "forced labor schemes", with "abusive and coercive labor practices"; something that the Cuban Government rejects.
Consequently, Rubio - a supporter of a tough line with the Cuban Government from the beginning of his career - announced that he would revoke the visas of Cuban and foreign officials involved in the hiring of Cuban personnel.
The 2024 report on human trafficking from the State Department places Cuba's income from the export of professional services between 6,000 and 8,000 million dollars (5,150 and 6,975 million euros).
According to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) of Cuba, exports of professional services represented more than 40% of the island's total sales abroad between 2018 and 2020.
Read alsoRecord blackout for this Tuesday and suspension of flights: US oil blockade worsens crisis in Cuba
With EFE and local media
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