Cuba works to restore power after 7th major blackout this year

Cuba worked Saturday to restore power following its seventh major blackout of the year, as the communist-run island struggled with woes stemming from a U.S. fuel blockade. 

This latest nationwide outage, the 12th since late 2024, followed a failure in transmission lines paired with "unstable weather conditions," the state-run utility UNE said Friday.

The blackout struck 5 provinces in eastern Cuba first, including Havana, before spreading to the rest of the country. UNE said 48% of its customers in Havana had regained power Saturday. 

"The re-establishment is being done gradually, as conditions permit," it posted on X. During the previous blackout in early August, it took the company 36 hours to fully restore power.

The island's more than 9 million residents endure constant power cuts due to the poor state of its aging thermoelectric plants. 

But conditions have worsened significantly since January, when Washington imposed a de facto energy blockade on the island in an effort to pressure Havana's communist government.

A severe fuel shortage makes it difficult to supply Cuba's power plants and backup generators, which typically rely on imported diesel. "It's one thing after another: no water, no gas for cooking, no electricity," schoolteacher Lidia Fernandez, who was just finishing up her workday, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.

"Honestly, I don't know how we haven't gone crazy," the visibly irritated 36-year-old added. 

In recent weeks, blackouts have lasted more than 30 hours in the capital, while in outlying provinces, they have sometimes stretched past 60 hours.

The outages have also disrupted the island's water supply and mobile phone network, and living conditions remain extremely tough for residents. 

Havana blames the crisis on an array of U.S.-imposed punitive measures, while Washington blames the hardship on poor internal management.

An economic crisis has gripped the Caribbean island, where 66% of the population lives in poverty, according to an independent study released this week. 

That figure compares to 45% in mid-2025, with rising food costs driving the sharp increase in poverty, according to research by the Christian Center for Reflection and Dialogue (CCRD).

The findings offer "an indicative picture that the problem is growing," study coordinator Mayra Espina told AFP. 

Another retiree, Zunilda Garcia, took the latest blackout in stride, heading outside to charge a small lamp with solar power. 

"We have to wait and stay calm," Garcia, 60, said. "We can't lose hope."