Power Outage Plunges Havana and Western Cuba into Darkness

Havana and several western Cuban provinces are grappling with significant power outages following a partial collapse of the national electricity grid. The state-run electricity company, Unión Eléctrica (UNE), reported the incident on social media early Sunday, stating that five of the country's 15 provinces are without power.

The blackouts occurred shortly after 6 p.m. local time on Saturday, coinciding with a worsening economic crisis in Cuba. This situation has been intensified by U.S. sanctions, particularly the fuel blockade imposed by the Trump administration, which has aimed to pressure the communist government. According to UNE, the scarcity of fuel has made the national grid more susceptible to failures and has severely limited the use of backup diesel generators.

In recent weeks, power outages have become increasingly frequent and prolonged across the island. Some blackouts in Havana have lasted over 30 hours, with outages in other regions extending for several days. The cumulative effect of these disruptions impacts the daily lives of Cuba's 9.4 million residents, highlighting the fragility of the nation's infrastructure amid its deepest economic downturn in decades.