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Cuba is within the midst of an island-wide blackout as its energy and economic crises deepen and its power grid continues to crumble.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a ‘complete disconnection’ of the country’s electrical system on Monday and said it was investigating.
But there have been no failures within the units that were operating when the ageing grid collapsed.
The federal government has blamed its woes on a US 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 liberalisation in return for a lifting of sanctions.
Yesterday, the President told reporters: ‘I do consider I’ll have the honour of taking Cuba. Taking Cuba in some form, whether I free it, take it, I can do anything I need.’
President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the island had not received oil shipments within the three months since Trump captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the US attacked the South American country in early January.
Because the blockade, Cuba has been operating on solar energy, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the federal government has needed to postpone surgeries for tens of 1000’s of individuals.
Yaimisel Sanchez Pena, 48, said she was upset that the food she buys with money that her son within the US sends keeps spoiling.
Mercedes Velazquez, a 71-year-old Cuban resident, said: ‘We’re here waiting to see what happens. Every part goes bad.’
What’s Trump demanding?
On Friday, Diaz-Canel confirmed that Cuba was holding talks with the US government as the issues proceed to deepen.
By the top of 2026, the US government is hoping to ‘change leadership’ of Cuba, and is searching for government insiders to ‘cut a deal’ to make it possible, reports in January said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the administration’s plans, which might seek to oust Diaz-Canel, who has led Cuba since 2019.
The federal government is already meeting with Cuban exiles in Miami and Washington, in hopes of reaching a government official in Havana who could help make a change occur.
The US tried to purchase Cuba in each the 1840s and 1850s, to no avail, before Cuba gained independence in 1902.
America also previously tried to oust Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader within the Nineteen Sixties, through the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.
What’s happening with Cuba’s power grid?
While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been capable of meet demand.
William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said: ‘The Cuban government doesn’t have the hard currency to import spare parts or upgrade the plant or grid itself. It’s just an ideal storm of collapse.’
Thermoelectric plants even have been using heavy oil, whose sulphur content is corroding the equipment.
Tomas David Velazquez Felipe, a 61-year-old resident of Havana, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island.
‘What little now we have to eat spoils,’ he said. ‘Our individuals are too old to maintain suffering.’
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