Cuba Battles Nationwide Blackout as US Pressure on Fuel Supplies Persists

Cuba’s national power grid collapsed entirely on Monday, deepening an energy crisis that Havana blames largely on Washington’s efforts to choke off the island’s fuel supply.

Cuba’s energy ministry confirmed the total grid failure, with Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy saying crews had switched on emergency backup systems to keep essential services running while repairs continued. By Tuesday, electricity was slowly coming back online, with Havana’s utility company reporting roughly a third of the capital reconnected. The cause of the collapse remained under investigation.

This is not an isolated incident. Cuba has suffered repeated nationwide blackouts in recent years as its power infrastructure, worn down by age, fails to keep pace with demand, a situation that worsened this year after the US pressured Cuba’s main oil suppliers into halting shipments. The country recorded at least two separate nationwide blackouts within a single week back in March.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel took to X on Monday to accuse the US of trying to engineer what he called “a social explosion through asphyxiation.”

The fallout from Cuba’s energy shortage has hit education, transportation and healthcare hard, while separate US sanctions have further battered the economy and kept tourists away. Washington frames the pressure campaign as a push to force Cuba’s government to loosen its political grip and open the door to foreign investment.

According to CNN, Cuba’s National Assembly approved a package of economic reforms last month, which the foreign trade minister said were not a response to outside pressure. A US State Department spokesperson dismissed the changes as superficial and overdue.