Third nationwide power outage in Cuba within a week

Background: Dilapidated grid and lack of fuel

Cuba's power generation has depended heavily on imported oil for years. Because of the U.S. trade embargo in place for decades and the sanctions associated with it, the country has difficulty procuring oil on the world market, and the oil demand of Cuban power plants regularly cannot be fully met. Energy providers and state authorities had repeatedly pointed to the precarious supply situation.

Several Cuban authorities stated that the grids had repeatedly collapsed in recent days after individual power plants had failed due to fuel shortages or technical defects. The deterioration of the transmission infrastructure is also cited as a cause. An independent review of these accounts by international bodies is pending.

In the capital Havana and in several provincial cities, the supply of electricity, water, and in many cases also telecommunications collapsed. Hospitals had to switch to emergency generators, and numerous shops and government offices closed temporarily. Residents reported that food spoiled in refrigerators and elevators stopped working.

Government calls for patience

The Cuban government called on the population to be patient and frugal and announced that repairing and restarting the facilities was a priority. President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez had repeatedly blamed the impact of the U.S. embargo for the energy crisis in recent days.

From Washington, it was said that the U.S. government wanted to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Cuba, but at the same time was pressing for political change. U.S. President Donald Trump had repeatedly announced tougher sanctions and a more restrictive handling of oil deliveries to the island. At the same time, parts of the U.S. government have called for humanitarian relief for the Cuban population.

U.S. sanctions and their consequences

Observers pointed out that the current situation is an interplay of several factors: the consequences of the oil embargo in place for decades, the technical deterioration of the infrastructure, and acute foreign currency shortages. According to experts, no short-term way out of the supply crisis is in sight.

The renewed power outages hit an already strained economic situation. With the loss of important revenue sources and persistent inflation, the supply of the population with basic goods is precarious in any case. Local aid organizations are trying to cushion the impact on particularly vulnerable groups, but are reaching their limits.

Outlook: Unstable supply expected

The international community has been called upon for help repeatedly in recent days. However, concrete pledges of technical or financial support have so far hardly been made known. Authorities also expect unstable supply in the coming days; further partial outages cannot be ruled out.

For the coming days, the Ministry of Energy announced that repair crews would be deployed around the clock. At the same time, the authorities called on the population to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption and to prepare for possible further interruptions.

The Cuban leadership emphasized that restoring the power supply was the top priority. According to the ministry's assessment, however, a medium-term stabilization of the grid would only be possible with extensive investments in power plants and the transmission network – prerequisites that are difficult to meet under current conditions.