Russian oil is giving a lifeline to Cuba.

From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Brancaccio.

The U.S. is allowing Russian oil to be delivered to Cuba after months of what has basically been an energy blockade imposed by the U.S.

A tanker carrying 100,000 metric tons of oil arrived yesterday.

The U.S. blockade has caused nationwide blackouts, severe fuel shortages, and shutdowns of schools and non-essential businesses in Cuba.

Will Grant is the BBC's Mexico, Central America, and Cuba correspondent.

He's been traveling to Cuba regularly for years, and he's

here to share what he's been seeing. Will, good morning. Good morning. It's nice to be with you again.

You just got back from Cuba. What did you see? I've been going quite often this year, and I've

just seen the situation on the island get progressively worse with each trip. And on this latest one,

I was there during an island-wide blackout where there was genuinely no power anywhere on

the island. Now, that's one moment, but neighborhoods go regularly, 18, 20, 15 hours a day without power.

It is deeply frustrating. What about hospitals? What about the food supply? How is this blockade affecting all of that?

I did actually go into a hospital. In fact, I've been into two hospitals since the oil blockade was put in place. One was a maternity hospital and the government showed us around. They were very,

you know, willing to show us that space because they'd kept the lights on. But the truth is

that most hospitals are struggling. One of the other clinics I went to was 90% in darkness while

I was down. They were only receiving emergency cases.

There's this oil coming from Russia, something like 730,000 barrels. Will that make any

difference? Yes, in the sense that it is a lifeline, but it's not making any lasting dent.

So if we estimate that, you know, 730,000 barrels will be a week's worth,

of course, in these current restrictions that they're putting on and how much fuel you can

pump at the petrol pumps, so on and so forth, they can eke that out to well beyond a week,

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