Cuba's national electricity grid suffered a total collapse on Tuesday, leaving approximately 10 million people without power in the third nationwide blackout in nine days and the fifth such failure of 2026. The outage began around 11:05 a.m. local time after a fault at a thermoelectric plant block triggered a complete system disconnection.
Half of the island's 16 thermoelectric generation units were already offline due to breakdowns or maintenance. Restoration could take days; previous outages last week required more than 24 hours each, with Havana enduring over 30 hours without electricity. Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced emergency repair efforts.
The crisis has deepened since the United States imposed an oil blockade on Cuba in January, after Washington removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power on 3 January. President Donald Trump threatened additional tariffs on countries exporting oil to Cuba, effectively halting fuel deliveries. The last foreign crude shipment arrived in late March, and dozens of citizen protests have erupted since 10 July. Washington added Cuba's tourism ministry to a sanctions list on Monday.