Cuba's power grid collapses, leaving the island in a total blackout

Cuba’s entire electricity grid went down late Sunday, plunging the country into a comprehensive blackout, according to a post by the state-run Electric Union (UNE) on X. The union did not explain the trigger, the scope of the outage or an estimated time for service restoration. Prior to the collapse, Havana’s electricity company had reported problems with damaged transformers, circuit failures and pre-planned reductions tied to insufficient generating capacity.

This incident is the latest in a series of three nationwide blackouts that occurred within nine days in July, each highlighting the deteriorating state of Cuba’s power system, which suffers from fuel shortages, aging thermoelectric plants and limited maintenance. Officials normally create small, isolated networks to keep hospitals, water treatment and food facilities running while they gradually bring larger plants back online. The outage has halted transportation, cut off water and communications, and strained medical services in municipalities such as Guanabacoa, Habana del Este, La Lisa and Marianao.