Havana Faces Widespread Power Outages

HAVANA (Reuters) – More than half of Cuba was without power on Thursday evening due to fuel shortages and malfunctioning power plants, forcing the government to impose blackouts across the Caribbean island nation.

Cuba’s National Electric Union reported a deficit of nearly 1600 megawatts against a demand nearing 3,200 MW during dinner time, leaving millions without lights, fans, and air conditioning as night fell.

Parts of Havana experienced intermittent blackouts throughout the day, while some provinces, including Pinar del Rio—a crucial agricultural and tobacco-growing region—were entirely dark for part of the evening.

By Friday morning, conditions had improved, but authorities warned that nearly one-third of the island would face blackouts again as peak demand approached later that day.

This recent surge in outages follows months of extended blackouts across Cuba, attributed to aging oil-fired power plants that frequently fail, combined with a cash-strapped government hindered by U.S. sanctions, limiting its ability to purchase fuel on the global market.

The ongoing economic crisis, characterized by severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicine, has driven a record-breaking exodus of Cubans from the island, exacerbating its challenges.