Cuba has been plunged into darkness again after its national power grid collapsed on Saturday, marking the third nationwide blackout in March and the second within a week, deepening the island’s ongoing energy crisis.
The outage left millions without electricity after a generating unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant in Camagüey province unexpectedly failed, triggering a cascading shutdown across the country’s electrical system.
Cuba’s state electricity provider said engineers activated small emergency power “micro-islands” to keep critical services such as hospitals, water systems and other vital infrastructure running while crews worked to restore power.
Frequent power outages have become common across the island in recent years. The grid relies heavily on aging thermoelectric plants and limited fuel supplies, making it vulnerable to breakdowns and nationwide failures.
Cuban officials say the crisis has worsened because the country has not received oil shipments from foreign suppliers for months, leaving the government able to produce only about 40% of the fuel needed to power the economy.
Havana also blames the situation partly on a U.S. oil blockade and sanctions, which have discouraged other countries from selling fuel to Cuba. The policy was tightened under U.S. President Donald Trump, who warned of tariffs on nations that supply oil to the island.
The blackouts have had a severe impact on daily life for Cuba’s roughly 11 million residents. Many households face long daily outages that interrupt work, prevent cooking, spoil food when refrigerators stop working, and even force hospitals to cancel some surgeries.
The crisis has also intensified political tensions between Washington and Havana. The Trump administration has demanded political reforms and the release of prisoners in exchange for easing sanctions, while Cuban leaders argue the energy shortages are largely driven by external pressure.