Cuban officials report an islandwide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis
The country of some 11 million people faces an economic crisis.
HAVANA — Officials in Cuba reported an islandwide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to it.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas, and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people.
A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power.
Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then-president, Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba’s aging grid has drastically eroded in recent years, leading to an increase in daily outages and islandwide blackouts. But the government also has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump also has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
On Monday, he said he believes he’ll have the “honor of taking Cuba.”
“I mean, whether I free it, take it. I think I could do anything I want with it,” Trump said about Cuba, calling it a “very weakened nation.”
The U.S. Embassy in Cuba wrote on X on Monday that “there is no information on when power would be restored.”