Cuba Plunged into Darkness by Second National Blackout in a Week

Cuba was plunged into darkness on Friday as the nation's electricity grid suffered its second widespread failure in just one week. The national power company, Unión Eléctrica (UNE), confirmed the outage occurred at 4:30 p.m. local time, with procedures now underway to restore electricity supply.

The cause of the latest blackout has not yet been officially stated by UNE. However, this incident represents the fourth nationwide power failure to affect the island nation this year. Authorities managed to restore power to most of the country late Tuesday following the previous outage, though some areas, including the second-largest city, Santiago de Cuba, continued to face electricity shortages due to severe fuel scarcity.

For residents like 26-year-old Yailin Fis Garcia, the recurring blackouts have devastating consequences. Standing outside her newly opened café in Havana, which has been forced to close due to the lack of power, she lamented the loss of food supplies and the financial strain. "All the food is being destroyed, and it costs us money," she told Reuters.

Garcia noted that her situation, while difficult, is better than that of those living on the outskirts of the capital, where her family has experienced electricity for only one to two hours a day over the past month. Cuba was already struggling with frequent power outages before the current crisis, which has been intensified by U.S. sanctions. These measures, imposed by the Trump administration, threaten sanctions against countries supplying fuel to Cuba, severely impacting the island's economy and daily life.

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All the food is being destroyed, and it costs us money.