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Cuba’s national power grid collapsed again on Saturday, triggering a second countrywide blackout within a week and leaving approximately 10 million people without electricity, according to state utility officials.
The outage followed a similar system-wide failure on March 16, pointing to mounting stress on the island’s electricity network as fuel supplies remain limited.
Authorities said the National Electric System (SEN) suffered a total disconnection and that efforts to restore power were ongoing.
The repeated failures come as Cuba struggles to secure sufficient oil imports. President Miguel Diaz-Canel said earlier this month that the country had not received external oil shipments for nearly three months, forcing reliance on solar energy, natural gas, and aging thermal power plants.
A major plant breakdown earlier in March and recurring disruptions have exposed the vulnerability of the country’s thermoelectric infrastructure, which has been operating under sustained fuel shortages.
Recent U.S. actions have further restricted Cuba’s access to oil. On Jan. 30, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs on goods from countries that supply oil to Cuba.
A day later, Trump said talks had begun on regulating oil supply to Cuba, a claim denied by Cuban officials. These steps have increased pressure on Havana’s ability to secure fuel, contributing to the worsening energy shortfall.
The situation has also been affected by disruptions in oil flows from Venezuela, previously a key supplier to Cuba, after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces on Jan. 3 ended preferential shipments that had supported the island’s energy system.
At the same time, U.S. pressure on third-party exporters has narrowed alternative supply channels, limiting Cuba’s access to global energy markets.
Cuban authorities have linked the outages to long-standing U.S. trade restrictions and recent measures targeting fuel imports, while U.S. officials attribute the crisis to structural weaknesses in Cuba’s state-controlled economic model and limited investment.
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