Cuba Plunged into Darkness After Total Power Grid Failure

Cuba’s electrical grid suffered a total failure on Sunday evening local time, plunging the nation of approximately 10 million people into darkness amid increasingly frequent blackouts. The grid collapse, reported on Monday, followed three nationwide outages during July. The situation unfolds under a US oil blockade that has further strained the country’s ageing energy infrastructure. State grid operator Union Electrica de Cuba did not provide detailed information about the situation in their posts on social media platforms X and Facebook. Pressure on the grid system has mounted as the government struggles to secure imported fuel supplies. The country lost its main source of fuel following the oil blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump. The blockade against Havana came after Washington’s world-shaking military operation on 3 January to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela had long been Cuba’s primary oil supplier. Meanwhile, oil imports from Mexico have also halted amid increasing US pressure on that country. The energy crisis coincides with moves to open up Cuba’s energy sector, which had been strictly and cautiously controlled. The scarcity of fuel and a series of harsh US sanctions have driven the change. The government recently granted approval for the first foreign-backed fuel import business and allowed nearly 200 Cuban companies to participate in wholesale fuel distribution.