Why is it always "national security"? Make it "national interests" or maybe "national priorities". They are more honest, yes, but also less transparently excuses.
this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2026
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Maybe they can get a deal for electric cars and solar with China? Cuba is one of those places that could use an 800lb gorilla in their corner.
You just described the Cuba Crisis.
Cuba’s energy supply mainly comes from oil products, accounting for over 80% of power generation.
Donald Trump's administration has declared Cuba "an unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security.
Which country isn't considered a threat to american "national security" at this point
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and uh.. Russia. Other adjacent authoritarians.
Israel
Hungary
Ah damn it, that's what I meant. I can't keep up, it was Eurasia last week. Corrected 😉
US policy forcing cuba into a green socialist utopia lol.
Island nations make the most sense to convert anyway. Import costs for consumable resources are already astronomical, why wouldn't you switch to tech that can be completely self sufficient locally?
Netflix made a documentary about the European islands that prioritized switching away from oil: Islands of the Future.
I would say with China's help, a renewable Cuba is entirely possible.
My only concern is the hazards introduced by hurricanes, which can be compensated for by implementing flush roof-mount solar PV systems (minimizes wind loads), underground electric power lines, subgrade geothermal loops with heat pumps, indoor substations and Battery Electric Storage System (BESS) facilities, and pumped storage hydropower utilizing Cuba's mountain ranges. Wind is probably not a viable technology given that hurricanes can completely cover the island with crazy strong winds.
Edit: as another commenter pointed out, tidal power would be a good alternative too. The best technology I've seen to utilize tidal is made by Orbital Marine Power based out of Scotland, who basically slaps 2 turbines onto a submarine to collect power. Could have offshore substations that collect that power and send it back to shore.
I've always thought this too, but Japan, and specifically Okinawa (where I live) are so reliant on fossil fuels. I figured we'd have solar panels on every home, offshore wind, and maybe even lead the innovation for tidal energy but nope.
Japan is a huge island in size and population compared to Cuba. And of course they kept importing oil and gas from Russia...
I'm not seeing how that's relevant. It's bigger, yeah, but still an island nation with the same import cost issue that empireOfLove2 mentioned. Does being bigger and more populous somehow cancel that out?
Okinawa isn't on one of the home islands
It's tiny compared to Taiwan, much less Cuba
Which parts are self sufficient for Cuba? The electricity generation? They don't have all the components to make lithium batteries.
Battery recycling will take 25 years to establish, when one generation of electric vehicles needs to be remade.
There's gotta be initial imports. Afterwards, they can be self-sufficient running these things and not be dependent on fuel imports, though.
Once they have enough lithium in the country, it could last them for decades, if they adopt a clever recycling strategy; not unlike they did with the 1950s cars.
Ya love to see it!
they are already the only country with a very high human development index and a ecological footprint smaller than 1.7 global hectares per person which is the threshold beneath which development can be sustainable.
source
but i’m afraid with the health and education system completely falling apart, especially in rural communities, this high hdi will not be maintained.
also there is no money for normal people to get any kind of vehicle, let alone electric.
if they are lucky and have some family abroad they might be able to source a solar panel, converter and battery, but going electric is far away, even if we consider the cheapest chinese EVs sold at 3000usd.
they might be able to pull it off in a different way, cubans have become really resilient and resourceful. old washing machine motors would be sold to transform into generators, normal one use lighters would be made refillable (the gas canisters would be reused insecticide cans), electronics would be fixed on a hardware level…
but that was before…on addition to the ever tighter embargoes and economical woes that come with it, since 2012 the population declined rapidly from a maximum of 11.2 million people to 9.75 million people in 2024, due to emigration and natural population decline through an ageing society source
Given that Cuba's entire grid has now failed, sewage is backing up into the streets, and nobody has access to food, water, medicine, or communications, I doubt a few Teslas are going to save them. Cuba is about to be known for mass starvation and disease, not electric vehicles.
The thing is that all this isnt surprising to Cubans at all. They have always more or less lived like this, which is why there has been an ongoing decade long trend to off grid or local grid solar. Also this is of course not about Teslas lmao. A basic electric vehicle is like the simplest fucking device ever. You can build an electric scooter for super cheap. Also turning something like one of these tricycles from gas powered to electric saves a lot of cost.
In the Alamar neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, Eugenio Gainza weaves a state-run rickshaw-style electric tricycle over the rutted roads, picking up passengers. "We make 16 trips a day," he says. "There is no fuel. This is the only means of transportation supporting this area."
I want to start seeing electric-converted 1959 Chevrolets.
Most of the old V8s had been replaced with Lada 4 cylinders by the 90s.
It wasn’t romantic that they were stuck with 50s cars, then forced to keep them running with Soviet spare parts.
As we should all to cut the ombilical cord with the oil industry and gain independence.
Considering that Cuba's electrical generation is nearly 100% fossil fuels, I don't see how this makes sense.
They're probably getting tons of solar panels from the same source.
80% of their grid power is oil "right now" though. Changing to solar and batteries will take time.
Well, "right now" their power is probably 0% oil, as they have none.
Right - so moving to EV automobiles is... pretty pointless at the moment.
Well, most likely they have some EV panels to charge some of the cars, which is probably working better than the gas based cars, because again, they have no oil and no gas.
But yes, I agree, the main issue is not what car they have, the main issue is the US.