Millions without power as Cuba hit by latest major blackout
Widespread power outages have become increasingly common due to fuel shortages made worse by a US blockade.
Millions in Cuba were left without power on Friday as the country was plunged into another major blackout.
Cuba’s entire electricity grid suffered a “total disconnection,” causing a nationwide outage, the country’s energy ministry said.
By late evening, power had been restored to some priority areas, including locations near hospitals and water pumping stations in the capital, Havana, grid operator UNE said.
This is at least the sixth partial or total blackout to affect Cuba this year, as ageing electricity infrastructure and persistent fuel shortages have come under added pressure from a US blockade on oil shipments to the communist-run nation.
UNE said the outage began just before 14:00 local time on Friday (18:00 GMT) because of a transmission fault combined with poor weather conditions in central Cuba.
Felix Estrada, the operator’s national load dispatch director, said protocols to start the “gradual restoration” of power were activated, and the process was still under way on Saturday.
Cuba depends heavily on fuel imports, so tight US sanctions and an oil blockade since the start of the year have worsened existing shortages.
Food and medicine have also grown scarcer, with hospitals struggling to operate normally and schools and government offices forced to close.
“Lately, it’s becoming a habit,” Havana resident Frank Lorenzo told news agency Reuters on Friday.
“Before it happened less frequently - once a month… just yesterday we were 24 hours without electricity, they turned it on for just an hour and it went down again.”
“It’s one thing after another: no water, no gas for cooking, no electricity,” 36-year-old schoolteacher Lidia Fernandez told news agency AFP. “Honestly, I don’t know how we haven’t gone crazy.”
Francisco Rodriguez, 78, said his home had already been without power for 28 hours on Friday and feared he would not have light “for several days”.
The repeated blackouts have led to rare protests in Cuba, where unauthorised demonstrations are illegal and those who ignore the ban risk jail.
Havana has blamed its fuel crisis on the Trump administration and condemned all of its sanctions - including a new round announced in August - which are part of a broader pressure campaign against the Caribbean island’s leadership.
Cuba’s regional ally Venezuela was believed to have supplied around 35,000 barrels of oil a day - about half of Cuba’s oil needs - until Venezuela’s own supplies were cut off after the US seizure of its President Nicolás Maduro in January.
US President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs on countries sending oil to Havana, and the US has seized a number of such shipments.
Washington, meanwhile, says Cuba’s energy crisis is the result of poor internal management and has accused it of posing a “national security threat”. Trump has openly discussed removing its leadership, including threatening a “friendly takeover” in March this year.