Cuba struggles to restore power amid U.S. oil blockade and fuel shortages

Cuba's national electricity grid suffered a total blackout Monday evening, the third such widespread outage in less than six months. The government is working to restore power, but officials acknowledge that fuel shortages are significantly complicating the restoration process. Lazaro Guerra, director of electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, stated that progress depends on available electricity production capacity.

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The lack of fuel "undeniably makes the restoration process of the electrical grid more complicated."

President Miguel Diaz-Canel directly attributed the crisis to U.S. sanctions, which he described as an attempt to provoke social unrest by "strangling the country" and blocking fuel supplies. He lauded the efforts of electricians working under what he termed a "genocidal energy blockade."

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We are advancing according to the electricity production capacity available in the country.

The Cuban Electric Company announced a "total disconnection" of the grid midday Monday, leaving the island's 9.6 million inhabitants without power. The exact cause of this disconnection was not immediately specified. The island's power infrastructure is notoriously old, and it faces persistent fuel shortages, leading to frequent partial and general blackouts.

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While the United States tries to provoke social unrest by strangling the country, blocking Cuba's fuel supply, the UNE mobilizes to remedy the failure of the national electricity grid.

Since Washington imposed an oil embargo in January, daily power cuts have intensified. Residents report having only a few hours of electricity per day, describing the situation as "agony." The main power plant, Antonio Guiteras, has been repeatedly shut down for repairs, contributing to outages that now exceed 30 hours in Havana and several days in the provinces, despite efforts to develop solar energy.

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What electricians are doing in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade is heroic.