Cuban protestors demand 'turn on lights' as fuel crisis deepens amid U.S. oil blockade

Cuba's energy minister said on Wednesday that the communist country has run out of oil and diesel as the U.S. blockade starves the island of energy. 

“The sum of the different types of fuel: crude oil, fuel oil, of which we have absolutely none; diesel, of which we have absolutely none … the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown,” Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said on state media, the BBC reported.

Protests broke out in Havana on Wednesday as the national capital endures the worst blackouts in decades. 

Crowds of hundreds of angry protestors blocked roads with burning piles of trash, banged pots and shouted "Turn on the lights" and "The people united, will never be defeated," Reuters reported. 

Cuba used to receive its oil from Venezuela virtually for free prior to the U.S. removing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Since January, the U.S. has blocked shipments of oil, which has resulted in blackouts lasting 22 hours per day in some parts of Havana.