Cuba’s power grid collapsed on Friday, leaving millions of people without electricity for at least the sixth time since President Trump cut off fuel to the island in January. The latest failure hit hardest in the western provinces.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the outage on its official X account and said officials had begun “activating service-restoration protocols.” By dusk, power had been restored to just 5% of users in Havana, which has about 862,000 customers.
Outage Count and Scope
- At least six major grid failures since January
- Last failure occurred in transmission lines in western Cuba
- System collapsed as far as Matanzas province
- Eastern section was subsequently disconnected
- 5% of Havana customers had power restored by dusk
- Only one tanker of fuel has arrived since March
Mercedes Rodriguez’s Account
Mercedes Rodriguez, a 60-year-old worker in Havana, described the daily reality of life without electricity. “No one can stand these constant blackouts,” she said. “There isn’t enough food, there’s no water, there’s no electricity — you have no idea. The country is in such a sad state, and there are no words for what we’re going through.”
Rodriguez’s account captures the cumulative weight of a crisis that has worsened since January. The blackouts are not isolated incidents; they are part of a pattern of failures that have become increasingly common over the past two years.
The Cause of the Collapse
Cuban authorities said the failure occurred in transmission lines in the western part of the country, causing the system to collapse as far as Matanzas province. The eastern section was subsequently disconnected. Granma, the state newspaper, reported “unstable” weather conditions further aggravated the grid’s situation.
The timing of the collapse is significant. It follows months of mounting pressure on Cuba’s infrastructure, exacerbated by the U.S. energy blockade imposed by Trump. The restrictions prevent Cuba from importing fuel to operate its thermoelectric power plants and replacement parts needed to maintain infrastructure that has become obsolete.
Only one tanker of fuel has arrived since, delivered by a Russian tanker in March.
Restoring Power Across the Island
Small power-distribution “micro-islands” were being established in Camagüey, Pinar del Río and Granma. Some systems serving hospitals and other emergency facilities were being reactivated. By dusk, power had returned to a tiny fraction of Havana’s customers.
Abilén Marrero, a homemaker, expressed the uncertainty that defines daily life in Cuba. “Maybe it’ll come back this afternoon or tomorrow—there’s no way to know,” she said. “We just have to wait.”
Her words capture the frustration felt across the island. The outages are not brief inconveniences; they disrupt cooking, water supply, internet and telephone service. They also have broader consequences, including transportation limitations, reduced work hours, flight cancellations and serious public health consequences.
The Blockade and Its Consequences
The U.S. energy blockade has been the central driver of Cuba’s power crisis. Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba. The restrictions prevent Cuba from importing fuel to operate its thermoelectric power plants and replacement parts needed to maintain infrastructure that has become obsolete.
The result is a grid operating without adequate fuel and without the maintenance it requires.
Even when the grid works, Cubans regularly endure outages lasting more than 30 consecutive hours. The two most recent nationwide blackouts occurred in early August, following others in July and March, plus several regional outages.
The International Response
Ernesto Soberón Guzman, the Cuban ambassador to the UN, called the outages a “collective punishment” in a conversation with CBS News last month. His framing puts the crisis in stark moral terms, arguing that the suffering falls on ordinary Cubans rather than on those who imposed the blockade.
What the U.S. Is Doing
The Trump administration has examined possible military action against the island, including an Army-led air assault. Officials have stressed that no decision has been made. The consideration of such action raises the stakes for a crisis that was already severe.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pushed for a diplomatic transition to a new government led by technocrats willing to make economic reforms. That push has stalled under Trump’s pressure. The administration’s preferred model appears to be the U.S. overthrow of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, which Trump has highlighted as a potential blueprint for what he would like to achieve in Cuba.
The Human Cost of the Crisis
The outages are not abstract statistics. They are families cooking without light, hospitals running on backup generators, and communities waiting for power that may never return. Rodriguez’s description of the country’s “sad state” is not hyperbole; it is the lived experience of millions of Cubans.
The embargo is the cause, and the blackouts are the symptom. Until the fuel flows again, the outages will continue.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs the deal over the standoff, and it would rather the channels of diplomacy stay open than see another nation’s grid collapse become an excuse for war. The embargo has brought the island to this point, and the people who suffer most are the ones who had nothing to do with the politics behind it.
The collapse of the power grid is not an accident of nature. It follows months of mounting pressure on Cuba’s infrastructure, exacerbated by the U.S. energy blockade. The restrictions prevent Cuba from importing fuel to operate its thermoelectric power plants and replacement parts needed to maintain infrastructure that has become obsolete.
One tanker of fuel has arrived since March, delivered by a Russian tanker. That is not enough to fix the system, and it is not enough to justify the suffering of millions of people who cannot cook, who cannot drink clean water, who cannot charge their phones.
Source material: “Cuba power grid collapse leaves millions without electricity again,” CBS News.
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