Cuba faced another nationwide blackout on Friday, resulting in a complete power outage across the island and leaving millions without electricity. This crisis has been severely exacerbated by the ongoing U.S. fuel blockade and infrastructure problems in the country.
Complete Power Outage and Its Causes
The Cuban Ministry of Energy announced in a post that "a complete shutdown of the electrical system has occurred," with only 5 percent of Havana having electricity. The state-owned UNE attributed this nationwide blackout to issues in transmission lines and unstable weather conditions. This blackout marks the seventh incident this year and the twelfth since late 2024, occurring due to fuel shortages and deteriorating infrastructure.
Lydia Fernandez, a 36-year-old woman, said: "Another problem arises: we have no water, no gas for cooking, and no electricity. Honestly, I don't know how we haven't gone crazy yet." Blackouts lasting over 30 hours have become common in Havana, while some provinces have experienced outages lasting more than 60 hours.
Social and Economic Consequences
These power outages have also negatively impacted the supply of water, cooking gas, communications, and transportation. Cuba, with a population of over 9 million, is also facing a deep economic crisis. An independent study recently published estimated that 66 percent of the population now lives in poverty, up from 45 percent in mid-2025, citing rising food prices as a key factor.
People speak with despair about their living conditions. Mercedes Rodriguez, a 60-year-old woman, said: "No one can endure these continuous blackouts. There is not enough food, there is no water, there is no electricity — you have no idea what we are going through." The country is in a very dire situation, and there are no words to describe what we are experiencing.
Old power plants in Cuba are heavily reliant on imported fuel, which has become increasingly scarce due to U.S. restrictions imposed since January. The U.S. government under Donald Trump intensified sanctions and implemented an oil embargo that severely limited the import of fuel and spare parts necessary for maintaining infrastructure.
Havana views U.S. sanctions as a factor exacerbating shortages, while Washington claims that the blackouts reflect the failures of the country's state-run economic model. Trump even implicitly threatened that he might seize the island.
