Cuba’s energy ministry said there was a nationwide blackout on Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed and shut down the national electricity grid.
The Communist-run government had already closed schools and non-essential industries and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on during severe power shortages.
But shortly before noon, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country’s largest and most efficient, went offline, causing a complete grid failure and leaving about 10 million people without electricity.
Officials did not say what caused the plant to fail.
“There will be no rest until (electricity) is restored,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Twitter.
The blackout marks a new low point on an island where life has become increasingly unbearable, with residents already suffering from shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
The power shortage had already prompted authorities to cancel all non-critical government services on Friday. Schools including universities remained closed till Sunday. Recreational and cultural activities, including night clubs, were also ordered to close.
Officials said in the afternoon that they had started taking steps to restore power but the process would take time.
Almost all business came to a standstill in the capital Havana on Friday. Many residents sat at the door sweating. The tourists hid in disappointment.
“We went to a restaurant and they had no food because there was no electricity, now we are also without internet,” said Carlos Roberto Julio, a Brazilian tourist who recently arrived in Havana. “In two days, we have already faced many problems.”
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero late Thursday blamed a storm familiar to most Cubans for the worsening blackouts over the past several weeks — deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
“Fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” Marrero said in a televised address to the nation.
Officials said strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week have crippled the island’s ability to deliver scarce fuel from offshore boats to its power plants.
The Cuban government blames the US trade embargo as well as new sanctions under former President Donald Trump for difficulties obtaining fuel and spare parts to operate its oil-fired plants.
“The complex scenario is caused primarily by the intensification of the economic war and the financial and energy oppression of the United States,” Diaz-Canel said on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said, “The United States is not to blame for today’s blackout on the island or the overall energy situation in Cuba.”
low fuel
While demand for electricity has grown along with Cuba’s private sector, fuel supplies have evaporated.
Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, Venezuela, has reduced shipments to the island to an average of 32,600 barrels per day in the first nine months of the year, according to ship-monitoring data, down from 60,000 barrels per day shipped in the same period in 2023. It’s almost half. and internal shipping documents from Venezuelan state company PDVSA.
PDVSA, which also has poor refining infrastructure, has tried to avoid a new wave of domestic fuel shortages this year, leaving small quantities available for export to allies such as Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, which sent fuel to Cuba in the past, have also greatly reduced shipments to the island.
At a time when its government is nearly bankrupt, the shortage has left Cuba scrambling to fend for itself in the very expensive spot market.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
