Cuba hit by third nationwide blackout in six months amid fuel crisis
Cuba experienced its third nationwide power blackout in six months on Monday, leaving nearly 10 million residents without electricity, according to reports from Al Jazeera, Fox News, France 24, and The Hindu. The state-run Electric Union said the cause of the outage is under investigation.
The blackout comes as the country's fuel reserves dwindle and its electric grid continues to crumble, according to multiple outlets. Cuba produces only 40% of the fuel it needs, and fuel has been running out across the island since January, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
A Russian tanker delivered 730,000 barrels of oil to Cuba in late March, but those supplies were depleted by the end of April, The Hindu reported.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines said it has activated protocols to restore electricity, and Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said microsystems were already operating throughout Cuba a couple of hours after the outage. “Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exacerbated by the energy blockade we face,” he said, as reported by Al Jazeera and Fox News.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the U.S. of trying to “incite social unrest by strangling Cuba's fuel supply,” according to The Hindu. He also wrote on X that “the actions of electrical workers in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade are heroic,” as reported by The Hindu.
The blackout has had significant impacts on daily life. Public transportation has largely been halted, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries nationwide, reported Fox News, citing The Associated Press. Residents in Havana expressed concerns, with one 36-year-old woman telling The Hindu she was worried about cooking food without power, and a 40-year-old man saying they had “no water, no gas, nothing until they restore it.”
The U.S. oil embargo has been a central factor in Cuba's energy crisis, according to multiple reports. Al Jazeera noted that Washington has allowed only one oil tanker from Russia to dock in Cuba since January, as part of a sanctions campaign. Fox News described the crisis as worsening after President Trump imposed additional sanctions and threatened tariffs on countries providing oil to the island.
Officials said the blackout was caused by a problem with a generating unit in the eastern province of Holguín, which led to a “sudden frequency change” and the collapse of the National Electric System, reported The Hindu. By the afternoon, some parts of Havana had power restored, with authorities indicating 4% of the city had electricity, while other provinces reported distributing power to hospitals, The Hindu reported.
This latest outage is the third nationwide blackout in six months, with previous incidents reported in March and earlier in July. The crisis has been exacerbated by chronic fuel shortages and deteriorating infrastructure, according to multiple sources.