Cuba began restoring electricity on Monday after the national grid collapsed late Sunday, the island's sixth total blackout this year and a setback that left Havana residents without power since Sunday. By midday Monday, seven western and central provinces had been reconnected and roughly half of Havana had service restored.
The Union Electrica de Cuba attributed the collapse to weather-related damage on an already fragile system, where seven thermoelectric plants each exceed four decades of operation and suffer frequent breakdowns. Havana blames the deteriorating infrastructure on the decades-long U.S. trade embargo, while Washington contends the outages stem from mismanagement of the state-run economy.
The crisis deepened after imports from Mexico also halted under increased U.S. pressure, and Havana has authorized its first foreign-backed fuel import venture and opened wholesale fuel distribution to nearly 200 private businesses in response.