Cuba restored some of its electricity supply from the grid in the middle of the night on Friday, officials said, hours after the island was plunged into a nationwide blackout following the collapse of one of its largest power plants.
The vast majority of the country’s 10 million people were still in the dark on Friday night, but some scattered areas of the capital Havana, including some of the city’s main hospitals, saw the lights flickering on again shortly after dark.
Grid operator UNE said it expected at least five of its oil-fired generating plants to restart overnight, providing enough electricity, it said, to begin restoring power. to wider areas of the country.
The Cuban government had already closed schools and non-essential industries and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on.
However, just before noon, the Antonio Guiteras power station, the largest and most efficient in the country, was shut down, resulting in a complete failure of the grid and leaving approximately 10 million people without power .
Authorities did not give reasons for the failure. Authorities said late Friday that they were working to resolve the problem that caused the oil plant to fail.
“There will be no other part until the electricity is restored,” declared Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, on the X social network.
The blackout is a new problem on an island where life is becoming increasingly unbearable, with residents already suffering from shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
The authorities had suspended all non-essential public services on Friday due to the lack of electricity. Schools, including universities, were closed until Sunday and recreational and cultural activities, including nightclubs, were closed.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero this week blamed worsening blackouts for several weeks on a perfect storm known to most of Cuba – deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
Almost all commerce in the capital Havana was halted on Friday. Many residents sat sweating on the doorstep. The tourists huddled down, frustrated. By nightfall, the city was almost completely covered in darkness.
“We went to a restaurant and there was no food because there was no power, now we also have no internet”, says Brazilian tourist Carlos Roberto Julio, who recently arrived in Havana. “In two days, we already have some problems.”
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero attributed the worsening electricity cuts in recent weeks to problems familiar to most Cubans: deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and increased demand. “The most important factor is the fuel shortage,” Marrero said in a televised message to the nation.
The strong winds that started with Hurricane Milton last week damaged power plant supplies, according to authorities.
The Cuban government also blames the US trade embargo, as well as new sanctions from former President Donald Trump, for the difficulties in obtaining fuel and spare parts to operate the plants.
“The complicated situation is mainly due to the intensification of the economic war and the financial and energy persecution of the United States”, declared Diaz-Canel on X, Thursday.
“The United States is not responsible for today’s blackout on the island, nor for the general energy situation in Cuba,” said a spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
A State Department official said late Friday that Washington was closely monitoring the possible humanitarian impact of the blackout, but that the Cuban government had not asked for help.
For many Cubans, removed from politics and accustomed to regular electricity cuts, the national blackout was just a normal Friday night.
Carlos Manuel Pedre said he took advantage of simple pleasures to pass the time.
“In the times we live in, with everything that is happening in our country, the most logical entertainment is dominoes,” he said while playing the game with friends. “We are in a complete crisis.”
Venezuela sends less oil
Cuba’s biggest oil supplier, Venezuela, reduced shipments to the island to an average of 32,600 barrels per day in the first nine months of the year, about half the 60,000 bpd shipped in the same period in 2023, according to data from Venezuelan state- owned company PDVSA.
PDVSA, whose refining infrastructure is also struggling, this year tried to avoid a new wave of fuel shortages in the country, leaving smaller volumes available for export to related countries such as Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, which have sent fuel to Cuba in the past, have also significantly reduced shipments to the island.
The shortage has left Cuba struggling to find itself in the much more expensive markets at a time when its government is nearly bankrupt.
Updated at 08:44 with power restored overnight