On Friday, Cuba’s national electrical grid experienced a shutdown following the failure of one of the island’s primary power plants, as reported by the country’s energy ministry. This incident caused a widespread blackout affecting the entire nation.
Prior to this event, the government, led by the Communist Party, had taken measures to conserve electricity by closing schools and non-essential industries and instructing most state workers to remain at home. Despite these efforts, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, recognized as the largest and most efficient in Cuba, went offline just before midday. This led to a complete grid failure, leaving around 10 million residents without electricity.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel announced via social media platform X that there would be relentless efforts until power was restored. In response to the crisis, authorities canceled all non-essential governmental services and suspended educational activities at all levels, extending closures through Sunday. Additionally, recreational and cultural establishments, such as nightclubs, were ordered to cease operations.
Only essential personnel from state-run food and healthcare sectors were instructed to report for duty on Friday. However, officials from the grid were uncertain about the timeline for restoring service.
This power crisis has exacerbated the already challenging living conditions on the island, where residents face ongoing shortages of food, fuel, water, and medicine. By midday on Friday, nearly all commercial activities in Havana had come to a halt. The sound of privately-owned generators could be heard in some homes and restaurants, while many individuals sat in the heat as they attempted to cool down in whatever way possible.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, on Thursday, attributed the persistent rolling blackouts in recent weeks to a combination of deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages, and increased demand, a situation familiar to many Cubans. Marrero identified fuel shortages as the major contributing factor in a delayed and technically disrupted televised address.
Recent adverse weather, including strong winds and heavy seas initiated by Hurricane Milton, has also hampered the island’s capacity to deliver scarce offshore fuel to its power plants. Furthermore, the Cuban government has consistently held the U.S. embargo and additional sanctions from the Trump administration responsible for the difficulties in obtaining fuel and spare parts for their oil-fired plants.
Both of Cuba’s largest power plants, Felton and the now-offline Antonio Guiteras, are underperforming and urgently require maintenance as part of a four-year infrastructure revitalization plan.
In light of increased demand caused partly by the rapid growth of private businesses, the government plans to impose higher energy rates on these entities to address the shortfalls.
While electricity demand continues to rise, Cuba faces a dwindling fuel supply, producing little of its own. Venezuela, historically the largest oil supplier to Cuba, has reduced shipments to an average of 32,600 barrels per day in the first nine months of the year—approximately half of what was sent during the same period in 2023, according to vessel-monitoring data and internal documents from Venezuela’s state company PDVSA. PDVSA, dealing with its own refining challenges, has been conserving fuel for domestic needs, limiting exports to allied nations like Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, previous fuel providers to Cuba, have similarly decreased their shipments to the island. Consequently, Cuba has turned to the more expensive spot market for fuel procurement, amid a challenging economic backdrop with the government near insolvency.
Despite these difficulties, electricity officials anticipate improvements in power generation over the coming days as weather conditions permit the distribution of fuel from previous shipments across the Caribbean’s largest island.
