Cuba faces another nationwide blackout amid US fuel blockade
Cuba Plunged Into Darkness as National Grid Fails Again
Bdbusinessdaily.com – Millions of people across Cuba were left without power on Friday after the country’s electricity network suffered a complete breakdown, deepening an already severe daily struggle with fuel shortages, failing infrastructure and long outages.
The Energy Ministry announced that the national system had become entirely disconnected. In Havana, electricity was available to only about 5% of the city at the time of the collapse, leaving most homes, businesses and public services without power.
The nationwide failure is the seventh recorded this year and the 12th since late 2024. Cuba’s state electricity utility, UNE, linked the latest crisis to transmission-line problems and unstable weather conditions. Yet the blackout also reflects longer-running pressures on an ageing grid that depends heavily on imported fuel.
Outages Affect Far More Than Lighting
For many Cuban families, electricity cuts now disrupt nearly every part of ordinary life. Long blackouts can stop water pumps, interfere with mobile and telecommunications services, complicate transport and make it harder to prepare food when cooking gas is also scarce.
In Havana, interruptions lasting more than 30 hours have become increasingly familiar. Some provinces have faced outages lasting over 60 hours, placing additional strain on residents already dealing with shortages of food, water and household essentials.
“It’s one thing after another: no water, no gas for cooking, no electricity. Honestly, I don’t know how we haven’t gone crazy.”
The repeated failures are especially difficult in a country of more than 9 million people, where the broader economic crisis has reduced the ability of households to absorb another disruption. When the grid goes down, refrigeration, cooking, communications and access to pumped water can all become immediate concerns.
Growing Economic Pressure
The electricity emergency has unfolded alongside worsening poverty and rising food costs. An independent study released this week estimated that 66% of Cuba’s population is living in poverty, compared with 45% in the middle of 2025. The increase was tied in part to higher food prices, adding urgency to the problems caused by prolonged blackouts.
Residents describe the situation as exhausting, with basic services often affected at the same time rather than one at a time. A power cut may mean no lighting or fans, but it can also reduce water availability and make food storage more difficult during a period of economic hardship.
“No one can stand these constant blackouts. There isn’t enough food, there’s no water, there’s no electricity — you have no idea. The country is in such a sad state, and there are no words for what we’re going through.”
The frequency of nationwide failures illustrates the fragility of the country’s generation and transmission system. Cuba’s plants are old and require dependable fuel supplies as well as replacement parts and maintenance. A problem on a transmission line or a period of instability can therefore spread rapidly across the grid.
Fuel Restrictions and Political Tensions
Cuba says the situation has been made worse by US sanctions and restrictions on fuel access. The country relies extensively on imported fuel to operate its power plants, and supplies have become harder to secure following measures introduced in January.
The administration of US President Donald Trump strengthened sanctions and imposed an oil embargo, limiting Cuba’s ability to bring in fuel and replacement components needed for infrastructure maintenance. Havana argues that these restrictions have intensified shortages and reduced the country’s capacity to keep essential systems operating.
Washington, however, maintains that the blackouts reveal deeper failures in Cuba’s state-run economic system. The competing explanations have become part of a broader political dispute over the island’s economic decline and its ability to maintain vital public services under pressure.
Trump has also made barely concealed threats about taking over the island, adding another layer of tension to relations between the two countries. For Cuban residents confronting the latest outage, though, the immediate issue is more practical: restoring power and coping with the consequences until the network is functioning again.
An Uncertain Road to Recovery
Restoring electricity after a total system disconnection can be complex. Generation facilities, transmission lines and local distribution networks must be brought back in a controlled sequence to avoid additional failures. Even after national service begins returning, some areas may remain without power longer than others.
The latest collapse underscores how vulnerable Cuba remains to disruptions in fuel deliveries, equipment reliability and weather-related instability. With outages becoming more frequent and sometimes lasting days, the challenge extends beyond repairing a single fault. The country faces the larger task of sustaining an ageing electricity system while households endure the cumulative effects of economic hardship, limited supplies and unreliable essential services.
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