Cuba Hit by Nationwide Blackout as Energy Crisis Deepens

Cuba was hit by a nationwide power outage on Sunday night, according to the state-run electricity operator, marking the fourth such failure of the national grid in less than a month. The collapse plunged the island of approximately 10 million inhabitants into darkness amid increasingly frequent blackouts. Residents of Havana told Reuters that the repeated power cuts have left them living in a state of uncertainty, disrupting daily activities and work, and making it impossible to keep food fresh due to non-functioning refrigerators. Felix Estrada, an official from the Ministry of Energy, stated that the government has begun a gradual restoration of power from the west towards the east. The recovery process is taking place against a backdrop of severe fuel shortages and the decrepit state of the country’s ageing power generation infrastructure, which continues to fuel a deep energy crisis affecting millions of citizens nationwide.