The power grid collapsed for the third time in March as the Cuban government grapples with a US-imposed oil blockade.
Published on 22 March 2026
Cuba has been plunged into darkness for the second time in less than a week after Cuba’s national electricity network failed again due to an energy blockade imposed by the United States.
The Cuban Electric Union, which reports to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, initially announced a total blackout across the island on Saturday without giving any reason for the cuts.
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The union later said the blackout was caused by the unexpected failure of a generating unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camagüey province.
“From that moment on, a cascading effect occurred in online machines,” an Energy Ministry report said, “which activated “micro islands” of generating units to provide power to vital centers, hospitals and water systems.
Officials said they were working to restore power. The last nationwide blackout occurred on Monday. Saturday’s cut was the second in the past week and the third in March.
As night fell, the streets of the capital Havana went mostly black, with people using phone lights or flashlights, just five days after the last blackout.
In the tourism-rich old town, some restaurants were able to stay open thanks to generators, musicians played music, but regular blackouts have made life more difficult for Cubans.
Cubans face blackouts of up to 15 hours a day in Havana. Power outages are worse in the interior of the island, home to a population of 9.6 million people.
“I wonder if we’ll live like this for the rest of our lives. You can’t live like this,” taxi driver Nilo Lopez, 36, told AFP news agency.
No oil has been imported to the island since January 9, impacting the electricity sector, as well as forcing airlines to reduce flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.
The blackout came as an international aid convoy began arriving in Havana this week, bringing desperately needed medical supplies, food, water and solar panels to the island.
The rupture has intensified since the capture of Nicolas Maduro, the socialist leader of Venezuela, Cuba’s main regional ally and oil supplier, in a US military operation in January.
The Cuban government has also blamed the US energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January threatened tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Trump has been claiming for several months that the Cuban government is on the verge of collapse. Following the collapse of the previous electric grid in the country, Trump told reporters that he believed he would soon have “the honor of taking over Cuba.”
The US President said, “Whether I free it, take it, think I can do whatever I want with it, you want to know the truth. They are a very weak nation right now.”
The next day, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel warned that “any external aggressor will face unwavering resistance”.
