Cuba Faces Recurrent Electrical Grid Failures Amid Hurricane Oscar’s Impact
HAVANA (Reuters) – The electrical grid in Cuba experienced its fourth failure in 48 hours on Sunday, coinciding with Hurricane Oscar making landfall, further exacerbating the distress on the island’s deteriorating infrastructure.
Prior to the recent collapse, the Cuban authorities had announced progress in restoring electricity after several setbacks, although millions remained without power since the initial grid failure. The Ministry of Energy and Mines indicated efforts to restore power began as soon as the outages occurred.
Hurricane Oscar reached the Caribbean island on Sunday, bringing intense winds, a powerful storm surge, and heavy rain to eastern Cuba, posing additional challenges to the government’s efforts to repair the grid. The Cuban meteorological agency warned of a "highly dangerous situation," while the U.S. National Hurricane Center recorded winds reaching 75 miles per hour (120 kph) as the storm traversed the island.
According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Oscar was expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba through the night and Monday, later emerging off the northern coast and crossing the central Bahamas on Tuesday.
In response to the hurricane and the ongoing energy crisis, the government, led by the Communist Party, announced an unprecedented cancellation of school until Wednesday, urging only essential workers to report to work on Monday.
The recurring grid failures have created significant setbacks for the government, striving to restore power to weary residents amid severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. These failures highlighted the complex nature of repairs and exposed the vulnerabilities in the nation’s grid system.
Despite restoring electricity to 160,000 customers in Havana before the latest outage, residents like Anabel Gonzalez expressed growing frustration after extended periods without power, impacting daily life and food preservation.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, informed reporters that he anticipated the grid could be fully operational by Monday or Tuesday, although he cautioned against expecting immediate, substantial improvements.
The precise impact of the latest setback on the restoration efforts remained unclear. The national grid initially collapsed on Friday after the largest power plant in the country shut down, leading to chaos, with further incidents reported over the weekend.
Protests occurred on the outskirts of Havana following these outages, with several videos of demonstrations circulating online. Despite the unrest, O Levy expressed that most Cubans understand and support the government’s restoration measures.
Internet connectivity in Cuba dropped significantly throughout the weekend, as reported by internet monitoring group NetBlocks, due to extensive power outages preventing residents from charging their devices and accessing the internet.
The Cuban government has attributed prolonged blackouts—lasting up to 20 hours in some areas—to deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages, and increasing demand. It has also cited the U.S. trade embargo and sanctions from the Trump administration as factors complicating the acquisition of fuel and spare parts for its oil-fired plants. The U.S. government denied involvement in these grid failures.
Cuba, reliant on imports for its outdated oil-fired power generation, has faced reduced fuel deliveries this year. Prominent suppliers such as Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico have scaled back exports. Venezuela, contending with its own supply issues, had halved its subsidized fuel shipments to Cuba, prompting the island to seek more expensive alternatives on the global market.
Mexico, another frequent supplier, appeared to have reduced fuel shipments during its presidential election year. Newly elected President Claudia Sheinbaum has yet to clarify whether the state-backed supply to Cuba will continue under her administration.
