Cuba faces one other nationwide blackout amid US gas blockade
Cuba’s energy grid suffered a complete collapse on Friday, triggering one other nationwide blackout and leaving hundreds of thousands with out electrical energy because the island grapples with an ongoing US gas blockade.
“A complete disconnection of {the electrical} system has occurred,” the Energy Ministry posted on X, as solely 5% of Havana had electrical energy.
State-run utility UNE blamed a failure in transmission traces and unstable climate for the nationwide blackout — the seventh this yr and the twelfth since late 2024 — as fuel shortages and deteriorating infrastructure take their toll.
“It’s one factor after one other: no water, no fuel for cooking, no electrical energy,” 36-year-old Lidia Fernandez instructed the AFP information company. “Honestly, I do not understand how we’ve not gone loopy.”
Cubans say drawback rising
Blackouts lasting greater than 30 hours have develop into widespread in Havana, whereas some provinces have endured outages exceeding 60 hours.
The power cuts have additionally disrupted water provides, cooking fuel, telecommunications and transportation.
Cuba, residence to greater than 9 million individuals, can also be going through a deepening financial disaster.
An unbiased examine launched this week estimated that 66% of the inhabitants now lives in poverty, up from 45% in mid-2025, citing rising meals costs as a key issue.
“No one can stand these fixed blackouts. There is not sufficient meals, there is not any water, there is not any electrical energy — you haven’t any thought,” Mercedes Rodriguez, 60, instructed AP. “The nation is in such a tragic state, and there are not any phrases for what we’re going via.”
How have US sanctions impacted Cuba?
Cuba’s getting older energy vegetation rely closely on imported gas, which has develop into more and more scarce amid US restrictions imposed in January.
US President Donald Trump’s administration tightened sanctions and enacted an oil embargo, choking the Caribbean nation from importing gas and alternative elements required to take care of development projects.
Havana blames US sanctions for worsening shortages, whereas Washington claims the outages replicate failures of the country’s state-run economic model.
Trump has even made scarcely veiled threats to take over the island.
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Edited by: Sean Sinico
