Cuba suffers third nationwide blackout in two weeks as fuel crisis deepens
A fault at a generating unit in Holguin knocked out Cuba's national grid on Tuesday. The fresh outage exposed how fuel shortages and repeated breakdowns are paralysing daily life.
Cuba suffered another nationwide blackout of its National Electric System, or SEN, on Tuesday, leaving the entire country without power, officials said. It was the third such incident in two weeks as a US oil embargo continues to strain the island's power grid.
The latest outage comes amid worsening fuel shortages and a broader economic and financial crisis. Public transport has largely been halted and officials have cancelled tens of thousands of surgeries, while repeated blackouts have disrupted daily life across the country.
The state-owned Electric Union said a problem with a generating unit in the eastern province of Holguin caused "a sudden frequency change", leading to the SEN blackout around midday. The Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Electric Union said "protocols for its restoration have been activated", with "micro-islands" being set up and then linked to restore electricity to priority sites such as hospitals and food processing plants.
By the afternoon, some parts of Havana had electricity again, with authorities saying 4 per cent of the capital had power. The provinces of Guantanamo and Cienfuegos said they had started supplying electricity to hospitals, while Matanzas said power had returned to the city's historic centre.
Fuel has been running short across Cuba since January, when US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island. Cuba produces only 40 per cent of the fuel it needs, and there is no immediate solution in sight for imports. Last week, two nationwide blackouts on Monday and Friday left more than 9 million Cubans without electricity, adding to two others in March and several regional outages.
The blackouts have led to transport limits, shorter working hours, flight cancellations and serious public health problems. They have also affected cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone services. In Havana, residents said they were no longer surprised. "These blackouts are normal in Cuba now. If something else happened, it would be strange," said Roberto Liana, 69, a retail store clerk. Sayli Aguilera, 25, a mother of two, said, "We're improvising and doing what we can." Many families have installed solar backup systems such as panels and portable batteries, while electric motorcycles and tricycles with photovoltaic power have become the main mode of transport for many people. The latest nationwide outage underlined the pressure on Cuba's power system as the country struggles with fuel shortages and repeated breakdowns.
With PTI Inputs
Cuba suffered another nationwide blackout of its National Electric System, or SEN, on Tuesday, leaving the entire country without power, officials said. It was the third such incident in two weeks as a US oil embargo continues to strain the island's power grid.
The latest outage comes amid worsening fuel shortages and a broader economic and financial crisis. Public transport has largely been halted and officials have cancelled tens of thousands of surgeries, while repeated blackouts have disrupted daily life across the country.
The state-owned Electric Union said a problem with a generating unit in the eastern province of Holguin caused "a sudden frequency change", leading to the SEN blackout around midday. The Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Electric Union said "protocols for its restoration have been activated", with "micro-islands" being set up and then linked to restore electricity to priority sites such as hospitals and food processing plants.
By the afternoon, some parts of Havana had electricity again, with authorities saying 4 per cent of the capital had power. The provinces of Guantanamo and Cienfuegos said they had started supplying electricity to hospitals, while Matanzas said power had returned to the city's historic centre.
Fuel has been running short across Cuba since January, when US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to the island. Cuba produces only 40 per cent of the fuel it needs, and there is no immediate solution in sight for imports. Last week, two nationwide blackouts on Monday and Friday left more than 9 million Cubans without electricity, adding to two others in March and several regional outages.
The blackouts have led to transport limits, shorter working hours, flight cancellations and serious public health problems. They have also affected cooking, water supply, and internet and telephone services. In Havana, residents said they were no longer surprised. "These blackouts are normal in Cuba now. If something else happened, it would be strange," said Roberto Liana, 69, a retail store clerk. Sayli Aguilera, 25, a mother of two, said, "We're improvising and doing what we can." Many families have installed solar backup systems such as panels and portable batteries, while electric motorcycles and tricycles with photovoltaic power have become the main mode of transport for many people. The latest nationwide outage underlined the pressure on Cuba's power system as the country struggles with fuel shortages and repeated breakdowns.
With PTI Inputs
