Cuba suffers second nationwide blackout in one week
Lights went out across Havana before nightfall, officials said, coming just five days after an earlier outage that also left large parts of the country without electricity.
A nationwide power cut plunged all of Cuba into darkness, the island’s energy ministry said, marking the second countrywide blackout in under a week as the electrical grid buckles amid an effective US oil blockade.
Lights went out across Havana before nightfall, officials said, coming just five days after an earlier outage that also left large parts of the country without electricity.
- Advertisement -
The energy ministry said on X that the national system experienced a “total disconnection” and teams were already at work to restore service.
The blackout coincided with the arrival in Havana of an international aid convoy carrying medical supplies, food, water and solar panels.
Since the 3 January US removal of communist-led Cuba’s closest ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, the island’s economy has deteriorated further as President Donald Trump enforces what amounts to an oil blockade.
Officials say no oil shipments have reached Cuba since 9 January, a halt that has strained power generation and forced airlines to cut flights — a further blow to the vital tourism industry.
‘Honor of taking Cuba’
The crisis for Cuba’s roughly 9.6 million people has unfolded as Mr Trump has openly expressed a desire for regime change in Havana.
“I do believe I’ll be…having the honour of taking Cuba,” he said, adding: “Whether I free it, take it — think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now.”
The following day, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that “any external aggressor will encounter an unbreakable resistance.”
Tanieris Dieguez, Cuba’s deputy chief of mission in Washington, told AFP earlier this week that Havana was open to broad talks with Washington and to increased investment, while stressing that Cuba’s political system would “never” be on the negotiating table.
Frequent blackouts, together with chronic shortages of food, medicine and other essentials, have heightened public anger; demonstrators last weekend vandalized a provincial office of the Cuban Communist Party.
Facing acute fuel needs, Cuba has been watching shipping movements closely: maritime trackers this week indicated two tankers loaded with Russian oil and diesel were reportedly headed for the island, though the vessels’ status remained unclear.