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On Monday morning, Cuba’s capital faced severe power disruptions, with only a small portion of the electrical grid functioning after the National Electric System experienced its sixth nationwide blackout this year. The outage struck late Sunday at 10:43 p.m. EDT, less than a day after power was partially restored following an earlier blackout that had already impacted five western provinces.
The state-owned Electric Union confirmed the collapse in a brief statement but offered no specific details on the cause. Reports indicate the grid has been struggling with a significant deficit exceeding 2,000 megawatts. This latest failure brings the total number of nationwide blackouts to six in 2026 and 11 since late 2024.
The Cuban government attributes the ongoing power crisis to the U.S. economic embargo and oil restrictions imposed since January. However, international experts and independent analysts point to chronic underinvestment and poor economic management within Cuba as primary contributors to the grid’s instability.
Decades-old thermoelectric power plants-many more than 40 years old-are central to the fragility of the system. These aging facilities suffer from prolonged maintenance issues and a severe fuel shortage, which have all compounded the problem. The blackouts severely disrupt essential services, including water supply, healthcare facilities, telecommunications, and food storage.
Public frustration has been mounting across the island, where more than 9 million people have endured widespread outages in recent days-at times affecting up to 74% of the country. The unrest has spilled onto social media and into the streets, with June alone seeing a record 107 protests nationwide, including 82 in Havana, according to the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts.
Efforts to restore power follow strict protocols. The process begins with isolated startup sources such as solar and hydroelectric plants, as well as small distributed generators, which supply basic electricity to the main thermoelectric plants.
These are then gradually synchronized to bring the grid back online. Despite these measures, the ongoing challenges underscore the urgent need for substantial improvements to Cuba’s aging electrical infrastructure.