Cuba hit by another total blackout as energy crisis worsens

Havana: A total blackout hit Cuba on Wednesday, the latest in a series of outages blamed on aging infrastructure and fuel shortages at power plants.

It was the second island-wide outage this year, with three other blackouts reported late last year.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines said on social platform X that the latest outage could be tied to a malfunctioning thermoelectric plant, although the investigation is ongoing.

The ministry said crews were working to restore power to the island of roughly 10 million people.

Earlier this week, an outage hit Cuba’s eastern region, leaving people from Las Tunas to Guantánamo in the dark for several hours.

In February, the government suspended classes and work activities for two days given a shortage in electricity generation. There is a severe economic and energy supply crisis in Cuba. It has worsened in recent years due to US sanctions intended to put pressure on the island to change its political model.

The sanctions have prevented the Caribbean nation from having sufficient foreign currency to buy fuel or repair its aging thermoelectric plants, many of which have been operating for more

than 30 years.