HAVANA: Millions of Cubans awoke on Sunday to widespread power outages following a third partial grid collapse, exacerbating an ongoing energy crisis that has left the island struggling to restore electrical service amid severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel.
Lazaro Guerra, Cuba’s top electricity official, confirmed that the latest grid failure occurred late Saturday in the western provinces, including Havana. While technicians were working to address the issue, Guerra did not specify when power would be fully restored.
Havana, home to nearly two million residents, remained largely without electricity early Sunday, as long lines formed outside distribution centers for subsidized rations. The state-run news outlet CubaDebate reported that the country’s largest power plant, Antonio Guiteras, had resumed operations and would contribute to restoring electricity throughout the day.
This third grid failure dealt a major setback to government efforts to stabilize the country’s electrical system. The outage came as Hurricane Oscar approached northeastern Cuba. The storm, with winds reaching up to 100 mph (161 kph), prompted Cuba’s meteorological service to warn of “an extremely dangerous situation” for the region, which was already without power and communication.
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Cuba’s national grid initially collapsed on Friday following a shutdown at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, triggering widespread blackouts. Efforts to restore power were temporarily successful before another partial collapse occurred on Saturday.
“The process of reestablishing the electrical system continues to be complex,” the Ministry of Energy said on X (formerly Twitter).
The rolling blackouts sparked protests in Havana’s Marianao and Cuatro Caminos districts on Saturday night, with videos of other protests surfacing on social media.
Cuba’s internet connectivity also suffered as the blackouts left residents unable to charge phones or access the internet. Data from NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, showed that Cuba remained largely offline throughout Saturday due to the power failures.
The island’s government has attributed the worsening blackouts, which have lasted between 10 to 20 hours daily, to a combination of aging infrastructure, fuel shortages, and increased demand. Officials also pointed to the US trade embargo and sanctions imposed by the Trump administration as factors hindering Cuba’s ability to obtain fuel and spare parts for its oil-powered plants. The US has denied any involvement in the grid failures.
