Cuba Experiences Nationwide Blackout Amid Escalating US Fuel Restrictions

Cuba’s electrical grid suffered a complete system failure on Friday, plunging the nation into darkness and leaving millions without power amid ongoing US pressure campaigns that have largely blocked oil imports to the Caribbean’s largest island.

The failure occurred around 2 p.m. local time in central Cuba due to a disruption in high-voltage transmission lines, authorities reported.

“Protocols are now in place to begin the gradual restoration of the system,” stated Felix Estrada, a representative of Cuba’s National Electrical Union (UNE).

By late evening, power had been partially restored to select neighborhoods in Havana, primarily around hospitals, but vast sections of the city remained engulfed in darkness under overcast skies and rain. This blackout marks one of six total or partial grid failures since January, a frequency that has become increasingly normalized for Cubans enduring chronic energy shortages. Residents in the capital were already coping with recent outages when the latest collapse occurred.

“I went 24 hours without power yesterday. They restored electricity for an hour, then the grid failed again,” said Frank Lorenzo, a 23-year-old Havana resident, describing the exhausting reality of the current situation.

Cuba’s aging power generation infrastructure has long struggled with fuel shortages and deteriorating equipment, but US-imposed oil blockades initiated in January have significantly intensified outages and system instability. Rolling blackouts have now persisted for over 30 hours across much of the country.

United Nations human rights experts have condemned the US fuel embargo, labeling it a violation of international humanitarian law and warning Cuba could face conditions resembling the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

(FRANCE 24 with Reuters) 

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