The island nation lost electricity to approximately 10 million people Tuesday morning amid a six-month U.S. fuel blockade.
4:00 PM
Cuba's national power grid collapsed Tuesday, plunging the island into its third nationwide blackout in less than 10 days and leaving approximately 10 million people without electricity.
The outage began around 11:05 a.m. local time, when the country's entire power grid went offline, according to Cuba's state-run electricity company, Union Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE). The Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed the event on social media, stating there had been "a total disconnection of the electrical system."
This marks the third island-wide blackout since the beginning of July and the fifth such outage this year. The two previous blackouts occurred within the preceding week, with UNE requiring more than 24 hours to restore power across the island in both cases.
Authorities did not disclose the cause of Tuesday's collapse. Cuba's electrical infrastructure has suffered total or partial blackouts since late 2024 due to obsolete infrastructure and fuel scarcity, according to officials.
The blackouts occur amid a six-month U.S. fuel blockade imposed on Cuba. The blockade has contributed to widespread shortages affecting the island's ability to generate and distribute electricity reliably.
Cuba's electrical grid collapsed Friday afternoon, marking the second island-wide outage in a week and fourth this year amid fuel shortages.
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