Cuba descends into violence and riots as country runs out of fuel - after rejecting $100million in US aid

Cuba has descended into violence and riots as the country runs out of fuel - after rejecting $100million in US aid.

The island has been hit by widespread blackouts, with sections of the country facing no electricity for 20-22 hours per day - a state of chaos which has worsened significantly after the implementation of the American fuel blockade.

Hundreds of Cubans blocked roads and shouted "turn on the lights!" in protest at lengthy electricity outages.

Irailda Bravo, 38, told Reuters she was protesting against the blackouts after being forced to sleep outside for days.

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She added: "We know that the situation in the country is chaotic. But we have young kids. We have to work. We have a life. We need to rest, and we can't."

Vicente de la O Levy, the energy minister, admitted to Cuba's 10 million residents the island had ran out of fuel oil and diesel, even after Russia donated a shipment oil in March, bypassing the American blockade.

He told state-run media: "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 - I am being repetitive - the only thing we have is gas from our wells, where production has grown."

Cuba ran out of its Russian fuel reserves in early May, and hot summer months have increased the demand for electricity.

The Cuban Government, in a statement, said CIA Director John Ratcliffe had met Cuban officials in Havana in a meeting which "underscored their interest in developing bilateral cooperation between law enforcement agencies".

A CIA official told Reuters Mr Ratcliffe visited the island to reinforce that the US would engage with the island "only if it makes fundamental changes".

The communist Government also claimed it "has never supported any hostile activity against the United States, nor will it permit actions against any other nation to be carried out from Cuba", after allegations of Chinese presence on the island.

The Communist-run island has received solar panels from China, but Mr de la O Levy said cloud clover and weather conditions has resulted in inconsistent power generation.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio - who is currently in Beijing with Donald Trump - said the Cuban Government was to blame for blackouts.

He told Fox News: "It’s a broken, non-functional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different."

Mr Rubio, a Cuban-American, said the communist nation had rejected a $100million (£74million) aid deal.

His State Department reiterated the offer of aid and said the US continued to seek "meaningful reforms to Cuba’s communist system".

It also said the aid offer, which included "free and fast satellite internet" would be distributed by in coordination with the Catholic Church and "other reliable independent humanitarian organisations".

In response, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said it was unclear if the aid offer was in-kind or in direct cash assistance, adding that Cuba "does not, as a matter of practice, reject foreign aid offered in good faith".

But he added the "best help" the US could give to Cuba would be to "de-escalate energy, economic, commercial, and financial blockade measures".

And Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel also called for the US to end the blockade.

"The damage could be eased in a much simpler and faster way by lifting or relaxing the blockade, since it is known that the humanitarian situation is coldly calculated and induced," he said.

Cuba lost the supply of around half its fuel after US special forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Mr Trump has previously said he seeks for the Cuban regime to be ousted, imposed an embargo and threatened tariffs on any nation supplying the country with oil.

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