Cuba has been plunged into a nationwide blackout after a failure at the Antonio Guiteras power plant.
This latest power crisis comes as the country grapples with severe energy shortages, prompting the Communist-run government to shut down schools, non-essential industries, and send most state workers home in the quest to conserve power. The blackout has left around 10 million people without electricity.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel took to X (formerly Twitter) to assure citizens that efforts to restore power were underway, though officials warned the process could take time. This outage marks a further deterioration in daily life for Cubans, who are already dealing with critical shortages of food, fuel, water, and medicine.
The island’s energy woes have been compounded by fuel shortages, worsened by the impact of Hurricane Milton, which hindered fuel deliveries.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero blamed the crisis on a combination of deteriorating infrastructure, rising demand, and reduced fuel shipments from key suppliers like Venezuela. Venezuela has halved its fuel shipments to Cuba compared to last year, while Russia and Mexico have also significantly reduced supplies.
Cuban authorities have also cited the U.S. trade embargo and sanctions, particularly those imposed by former President Donald Trump, as major contributors to the island’s energy struggles. However, the U.S. has rejected responsibility for the current blackout, with a White House spokesperson attributing the energy crisis to internal factors in Cuba.
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