Cuba’s power grid failed again on Aug. 2 night, causing another nationwide blackout, a state utility said in a social media post.
As the lights suddenly turned off across Havana, residents who were sat outside to get some respite from the summer heat audibly groaned en masse.
Cuba has been suffering rolling power cuts due to aging equipment and a U.S. energy embargo that halted regular deliveries of fuel for power stations.
State-run UNE said there was a “total disconnection” of the national electricity system, plunging the country, including the capital, into abrupt darkness.
This is just the latest in a series of total collapses of the electricity grid.
Just 24 hours ago, the whole west of the country went dark.
The power cuts have made normal life almost impossible, with each outage also meaning that water supplies trickle away and ceiling fans slow to a halt.
It is a growing strain for a society used to adversity but now stuck in a months-long crisis that has no obvious end in sight.
Residents in the worst-affected areas have vented their frustrations by setting piles on trash on fire or banging on pots and pans.
The Ministry of Energy said that protocols to reactivate the grid were underway.
