A video shared on Facebook by Elier Ramos captures a group of Cubans pouring oil directly into a tractor's engine to get it running, due to the unavailability of diesel on the island. This footage, which has gone viral this week, starkly highlights the desperation faced by Cuban farmers.
In the video, the narrator encourages his companions as one of them, referred to as "el Fena," pours the oil into the engine: "Come on, guys, there's Fena pouring the oil. Pour it. So they can see we have no needles. We're on the third box now." At the end of the clip, a phrase sums it up: "Let's kill fuel, let's kill fuel," referring to replacing the conventional diesel that simply isn't available.
This instance is not unique. Other Cubans have shared similar experiences: farmer Juan José Martínez Serrat modified his tractor to run on used vegetable cooking oil, and a family known as @el_paisus showcased the same process. Previously, a Cuban managed to power his car with charcoal through gasification, a case that was covered by Reuters.
The Technical Risks and Desperate Measures
From a technical perspective, using pure vegetable oil poses significant risks to modern diesel engines: increased viscosity, carbon deposit buildup, and injector damage. However, older and sturdier engines—common in Cuba's aging agricultural machinery—are more capable of handling such emergency adaptations.
The Fuel Crisis' Root Causes
The underlying issue is the most severe fuel crisis Cuba has experienced in decades. Diesel on the black market costs between 1,500 and 3,000 Cuban pesos per liter, prices that are unaffordable for most producers. As of the first quarter of 2026, 96.4% of the 9,236 registered agricultural microenterprises in the country face severe restrictions due to fuel shortages. Cuban farmers are trading food for diesel to keep operations running, according to the Food Monitor Program.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned in March 2026 that the lack of diesel is preventing the harvesting of already planted crops in Cuba, constituting a humanitarian emergency.
International Dynamics and Economic Collapse
The energy collapse has direct structural causes. Cuba's oil imports from Venezuela plummeted from 105,000 barrels per day in 2012 to less than 30,000 in 2025. The end of Venezuelan oil has severely impacted the Cuban economy, exacerbated by Nicolás Maduro's capture on January 3, 2026. Additionally, an executive order from President Donald Trump, signed on January 29, 2026, threatens tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba.
Desperation for alternatives has also led to a surge in thefts of dielectric oil from electrical transformers, reselling it as fuel, leaving entire municipalities without electricity for weeks in provinces like Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, and Matanzas.
As Cuban farmers improvise with oil in their tractors, Díaz-Canel has urged "the effort and talent of Cubans" and agroecological techniques as a response to the inability to use diesel machinery, a response that contrasts sharply with the severe food crisis affecting the population.
Understanding Cuba's Fuel Crisis
Why are Cubans using oil instead of diesel for tractors?
Cubans are resorting to using oil as a substitute for diesel because there is a severe shortage of diesel on the island, making it difficult to obtain and extremely expensive on the black market.
What are the risks of using vegetable oil in diesel engines?
Using vegetable oil in diesel engines can cause increased viscosity, carbon deposit buildup, and potential damage to injectors, particularly in modern engines.
How has the fuel crisis affected agriculture in Cuba?
The fuel crisis has severely impacted agriculture, with many farmers unable to harvest crops due to a lack of diesel, leading to a humanitarian emergency as warned by the FAO.