The Canadian national airline, one of the main operators of routes to Cuba, said it will begin a plan to repatriate 3,000 passengers currently present here.
The beaches in Cuba are a tourist destination for Canadians in winter and are one of the most important sources of foreign currency for the government of this country.
Not only Air Canada, a series of international airlines from Russia, China, Turkey, France and Spain are also seriously affected. The fuel crisis broke out quickly due to Washington's tightening policy to force the Cuban government to sit at the negotiating table, in the context that senior figures in President Donald Trump's administration are increasing pressure on Havana.
Previously, the US threatened to impose sanctions on any country transporting oil to Cuba, citing the island nation's government as a national security threat.
In response to this move, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on February 9 harshly criticized the US policy as "very unfair". She declared that Mexico is taking "all necessary diplomatic measures" to be able to send oil to the island, after delivering 800 tons of humanitarian aid on February 8.
The true scale of the crisis was revealed when airlines received a Cuban Aviation Notification (NOTAM) warning that fuel supplies would be restricted until at least March 11. This announcement was a big surprise because just 2 days before that, the Cuban government still reassured people that international flights would be maintained normally.
The impact of the oil embargo is directly hitting Cuba's key economic sector. Revenue from tourism, which once reached more than 3 billion USD per year, is now said to have fallen below 1 billion USD. To cope with energy shortages, local authorities are forced to push tourists into a few hotels to save electricity.
While Air Canada chooses to cancel flights, other airlines are looking for temporary solutions. Air Europa (Spain) announced that it will refuel in the Dominican Republic, while Air Transat (Canada) plans for technical stops to maintain operations.
In Cuban cities, gas stations are massively closed and people have to use online applications to queue to buy gasoline and oil amid severe shortages.
