Cuba announces total electricity blackout

The entire island of Cuba has been hit by a blackout, the state power company announced. This is yet another blackout caused by the oil blockade imposed by the United States to put pressure on the island's communist government. The power outages were caused by a 'complete blockade of the national electricity grid', the Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (Une) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore the power supply.

Une announced the complete disconnection of the National Energy System, the Sen, with a simultaneous interruption of electricity throughout the Caribbean country. The notice, circulated with a few lines on the Havana electricity company's Telegram channel, only indicated the start of restoration protocols, without providing explanations on the causes. In the capital, the interruption was sudden. 'It was like switching off, switching on again and switching off again,' recounts a resident of the Nuevo Vedado neighbourhood, while similar reports are also coming in from several other provinces, reports the country's main independent media as well as CNN.

This is the first total collapse of the electricity system in 2026. On 4 March, a fault at the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant in Matanzas had already caused the grid to fail in two-thirds of the country. Restoration had been difficult due to a shortage of fuel, which was needed to power the local microsystems. The blackout comes after days of protests against long power cuts. In Morón, in the province of Ciego de Ávila, dozens of people took to the streets shouting 'Freedom'. Several people were arrested and the authorities deployed security forces in several towns.