Cuba’s electrical grid collapsed once again on Sunday, marking the fourth outage in just 48 hours. This latest failure has deepened doubts about the country’s ability to quickly resolve the ongoing power crisis, which comes amid widespread shortages of food, fuel, and medicine.
The latest blackout follows weeks of rolling outages and has sparked small protests across the island. A looming tropical storm has also threatened to complicate efforts to restore electricity.
The national grid first crashed midday on Friday when the largest power plant on the island shut down, plunging around 10 million people into darkness. Since then, the grid has failed three more times, highlighting the fragile state of Cuba’s infrastructure.
The continued outages are a significant blow to the government’s attempts to bring relief to weary citizens, many of whom have endured months of blackouts during the hot Caribbean summer.
On Sunday evening, Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel appeared on national television dressed in military attire, urging Cubans to remain calm and civil.
“We are not going to accept nor allow anyone to act with vandalism and much less to alter the tranquility of our people,” Diaz-Canel said.
In Havana, the capital city was entirely dark by Sunday night, save for a few businesses and homes running on fuel-powered generators. The streets were largely quiet, with residents playing dominoes, listening to radios, or sitting on their doorsteps.
However, a visible police presence could be seen throughout the city. Journalists reported witnessing several “cacerolazos” – pot-banging protests – in neighborhoods on the outskirts of Havana.
In San Miguel de Padron, a poor neighborhood, angry protesters blocked roads with trash heaps before being dispersed by security forces.
Cuba’s energy and mines minister, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged the disruptions but claimed most residents understood and supported the government’s recovery efforts.
“It is Cuban culture to cooperate,” he said, though he described the protests as “incorrect” and “indecent.”
Earlier in the day, power had been restored to 160,000 customers in Havana, offering brief hope, but the grid collapsed again in the afternoon, setting back recovery efforts.
The government had initially promised to restore power by Monday or Tuesday, but it’s unclear how this latest setback will affect that timeline.
The situation was further complicated by Tropical Storm Oscar, which made landfall on Sunday, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, and a powerful storm surge to parts of eastern Cuba.
In response, the government canceled schools through Wednesday, an unusual move, and asked only essential workers to report to work on Monday due to the storm and the energy crisis.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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