Cuba suffers second nationwide blackout in a week amid deepening energy crisis

The repeated outages have intensified frustration among residents already coping with prolonged power cuts.

• Cuba faces repeated nationwide blackouts amid energy crisis
• Aging power plants and fuel shortages worsen outages
• Residents endure blackouts lasting up to 40 hours in some regions

Did our AI summary help?

Cuba plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week after a fresh failure of its national electricity grid, deepening an already severe energy crisis driven by aging infrastructure and fuel shortages.

The latest outage struck late Saturday, leaving large parts of the capital, Havana, in near-total darkness, with residents relying on mobile phone lights and flashlights to navigate the streets. The blackout followed a similar nationwide collapse just days earlier, underscoring the fragility of the island’s power system.

Authorities said the disruption was triggered by a breakdown at a power unit in a thermoelectric plant, which caused a cascading failure across the grid. The state-run Cuban Electric Union described it as a “total disconnection” of the national system and said efforts were underway to restore electricity, including activating micro-grids to prioritise hospitals and water treatment facilities.

The repeated outages have intensified frustration among residents already coping with prolonged power cuts. In Havana, blackouts can last up to 15 hours a day, while some regions in the interior face outages exceeding 40 hours.

“This is becoming unbearable,” said Ofelia Oliva, a 64-year-old resident, who abandoned plans to visit her daughter due to the blackout. “It hasn't even been a week since we experienced a similar situation. It is getting tiresome.”

Nilo Lopez, a taxi driver, voiced similar concerns. “I wonder if we're going to be like this our whole lives. You can't live like this,” he said.

Despite the disruption, parts of the tourism-heavy old city remained partially active, with some restaurants operating on generators and musicians continuing to perform, even as much of the city went dark.

Cuba’s electricity system relies heavily on a network of aging thermoelectric plants, many of which have been in operation for more than four decades and are prone to breakdowns and maintenance shutdowns. The system requires roughly 100,000 barrels of oil per day to meet demand, but domestic production covers only about 40% of that need.

The situation has worsened sharply in recent months due to fuel shortages linked to tightening external pressures. The United States, under President Donald Trump, has intensified restrictions on oil supplies and financing to the island, including threats of tariffs on countries supplying fuel to Cuba.

Fuel imports have been severely disrupted since early January, hitting not only electricity generation but also aviation and tourism, key pillars of the Cuban economy.

The crisis has also been compounded by the loss of support from Nicolás Maduro, whose country had long served as a crucial oil supplier to Cuba. With that supply curtailed, the island has struggled to secure alternative sources, even as reports suggest Russian fuel shipments may be en route, though their status remains uncertain.

The worsening energy crisis comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Havana. Trump has openly suggested regime change in Cuba, saying he would have “the honor of taking Cuba” and that the country is “very weakened.”

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded with defiance, warning that “any external aggressor will encounter an unbreakable resistance.”

At the same time, Cuban officials have signalled a willingness to engage in broader talks with the US. Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, said Havana is open to discussions and increased investment, but made clear that the country’s political system “will never” be part of negotiations.

The blackouts, coupled with shortages of food, medicine and other essentials, have heightened public frustration. Protests have begun to surface, including the vandalism of a provincial office of the Communist Party last week.

Even so, many residents continue to adapt. Meiven Rodriguez, a shopkeeper, kept working through the blackout using her phone’s light to count cash. “You have to keep going, otherwise you won't bring money home,” she said.

Along the darkened coastline, fishermen continued their routines under minimal light. “What would we do at home?” Leonsio Suarez told AFP as he cast his line into the sea.

With fuel supplies uncertain and infrastructure under strain, Cuba’s repeated grid failures have laid bare the deepening economic and energy crisis facing the island nation.