Another nationwide blackout hits Cuba

HAVANA

Cubans gradually got power back on July 7 after the third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, causing mounting despair in the face of an energy collapse precipitated by a U.S. fuel blockade.

The communist island was already struggling to keep the lights on before U.S. President Donald Trump cut off its oil supplies in January, depleting the dwindling supply of fuel for its power plants.

Union Electrica (UNE), the state electricity company, announced a "total disconnection" to the entire island at midday on July 6, leaving the communist country's 9.6 million inhabitants without power while not providing a reason. 

It said early on July 7 that power was restored to over 30 percent of the capital, including 43 medical centers and nine water distribution installations.
The blackout marks the eighth on the island since late 2024.

The lack of fuel "undoubtedly complicates the restoration process," Lazaro Guerra, director of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said on state television late on July 6.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel blamed U.S. sanctions policy against the island.

"While the U.S. attempts to trigger social unrest through strangulation by blocking fuel access to Cuba, the UNE is mobilizing to reverse the collapse of the National Electric System," the president said.

This latest blackout comes as the state imposes increasingly draconian power cuts across the country, over 30 hours at a stretch in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas,  in an increasingly desperate attempt to conserve fuel.