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Cuba reported a nationwide blackout on Monday in the largest power outage since the Trump administration launched an energy blockade of the Communist island earlier this year.
Cuba’s energy ministry said the country’s national grid suffered “a full disconnection” in a post on X. It added: “The causes are being investigated and protocols for restoration are beginning to be activated.”
There was “no information on when power would be restored” just before 5pm local time on Monday, according to the US embassy in Havana.
The blackout, which left the population of about 11mn without power, will pile pressure on the country’s government as it grapples with Washington’s escalating pressure campaign.
Cuba’s oil imports have been squeezed since American special forces captured Venezuela’s then-leader Nicolás Maduro, who had long facilitated the shipment of oil to the island in exchange for counter-intelligence support. Washington has also pressed Mexico, Havana’s last remaining regular supplier, to halt its own oil exports to the Caribbean nation.
The island depends on energy imports to meet national demand.
The effective blockade is compounding an economic and humanitarian crisis, with blackouts a daily occurrence. Cuba, which has been an adversary of Washington since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959, has long relied on international benefactors, including the Soviet Union during the cold war and later Venezuela.
Deprived of jet fuel, airlines have suspended flights, wrecking the country’s vital tourism sector while drivers queue for hours in the hope of filling their tanks. Hospitals have cancelled surgeries and reduced operations even as tropical diseases surge. Food distribution and rubbish collection have been heavily disrupted.
Under US pressure, several countries have also begun winding down their contracts for Cuban medical personnel, hitting another of Havana’s crucial revenue streams and depriving the government of desperately needed foreign currency.
The worsening conditions led to a rare protest on Friday night in the city of Morón, where demonstrators set fire to the Communist Party’s local headquarters, according to officials. Videos that circulated on social media showed the building aflame, with cries of “freedom!” audible. Five people were arrested, according to state media.
Earlier on Friday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed his government was in talks with the US and that the island had not received oil shipments in three months.
“These discussions have been aimed at seeking solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences between our two nations,” Díaz-Canel said.
US President Donald Trump, who has floated a “friendly takeover” of the island, on Sunday said he wanted to end the war in Iran before switching his focus to Cuba.
“I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do,” Trump said on Air Force One. “We’re talking to Cuba, but we’re going to do Iran before Cuba.”