Cuba’s national power grid went down on Saturday, cutting electricity for millions, officials said. The outage marks the second nationwide blackout in a week and the third major grid failure in March.
The state utility, Unión Eléctrica, reported on social media that at 18:32 local time (22:32 GMT) the entire National Electric Power System went offline. Authorities later said the failure was caused by a malfunction at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camagüey province, which triggered a cascading shutdown across the grid.
To maintain essential services, the Ministry of Energy and Mines activated “micro-islands” of generating units to supply power to hospitals, water systems, and other critical centres. Officials said restoration efforts are underway.
Frequent blackouts, sometimes lasting up to 12 hours a day, are now common in Cuba due to both fuel shortages and deteriorating infrastructure. Residents face disruptions to cooking, refrigeration, work, and healthcare, with some hospitals forced to cancel surgeries.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Cuba has not received foreign oil supplies for three months. The island produces only about 40% of the fuel it needs to run its economy.
The blackouts have been worsened by a U.S.-imposed oil blockade. Following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Cuba lost its key oil supplier. The Trump administration has cut Venezuelan exports to Cuba and threatened tariffs against other countries that sell oil to the island.
While the U.S. has temporarily eased sanctions on Russian oil due to the war in Iran, Cuba remains explicitly excluded from these exemptions. Mexico, another important supplier, has also halted shipments but continues to provide humanitarian aid.
The U.S. government has linked the crisis to Cuba’s command economy, while Havana blames Washington’s blockade for the worsening situation. President Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that Cuba’s government is on the verge of collapse and has demanded political reforms in exchange for lifting sanctions.
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