Cuba suffered another nationwide power grid failure Friday, plunging millions of residents into darkness in what was at least the island’s sixth major blackout since President Donald Trump halted fuel supplies to the country in January.
Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed the islandwide outage in a post on its official X account, saying authorities had started “activating service-restoration protocols” to bring electricity back online.
For many Cubans, the latest blackout added to an already punishing daily struggle. “No one can stand these constant blackouts. There isn’t enough food, there’s no water, there’s no electricity — you have no idea,” Mercedes Rodriguez, a 60-year-old Havana worker waiting for public transportation, told The Associated Press. “The country is in such a sad state, and there are no words for what we’re going through.”
Officials said the collapse began after an apparent breakdown in transmission lines in western Cuba. The malfunction knocked out service as far east as Matanzas province before the eastern portion of the national electrical system was also disconnected.
State-run newspaper Granma said unstable weather conditions had compounded the problems facing Cuba’s already fragile power network.
By nightfall, electricity had returned to roughly 5% of Havana customers, official figures showed. The capital has about 862,000 electricity users.
Authorities were also creating small electricity-distribution “micro-islands” in Camagüey, Pinar del Río and Granma provinces, while beginning to restore power systems supporting hospitals and other essential emergency services.
Major power failures have become a recurring feature of life in Cuba over the past two years as the island confronts a deepening economic crisis.
The outages have grown more severe since January, when the United States introduced an energy blockade intended to pressure Cuba into changing its political system.
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Those measures have blocked Cuba from obtaining fuel needed to run its thermoelectric plants, along with replacement components necessary to repair and maintain an aging power infrastructure that is often obsolete.
Just one tanker of fuel has been delivered since, by a Russian tanker in March.
The two most recent nationwide blackouts occurred in early August, following others in July and March, as well as several regional outages.
Even when the national power grid is working, Cubans regularly endure outages lasting more than 30 consecutive hours.
The blackouts have had a significant impact on the population and, combined with the energy embargo, have led to transportation limitations, reduced work hours and flight cancellations, in addition to serious public health consequences.
The power outages also affect basic activities such as cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone service.
Abilén Marrero, a homemaker, sat resignedly at the entrance to her building in central Havana on Friday.
“Maybe it’ll come back this afternoon or tomorrow—there’s no way to know. We just have to wait,” she said.