Cuba Restores Power to Havana After Nationwide Grid Failure

HAVANA, Cuba — Late Sunday evening, Cuba successfully reconnected its national electrical grid, restoring power to the majority of Havana nearly 48 hours after a widespread outage affected 10 million residents. Energy officials reported that about two-thirds of the city, a densely populated major tourism center, had its electricity restored, with that number expected to rise throughout the night.

The blackout began Friday when a transmission line shorted at a substation in Havana, triggering a chain reaction that lead to a complete shutdown of power generation across the island. Cheers erupted in various neighborhoods as lights flickered back on after days of darkness, hampering commercial activities and halting daily life in the two-million-strong capital.

Cuba’s grid operator announced that its two largest oil-fired power plants, Felton and Antonio Guiteras, were operational again by late Sunday, marking a significant milestone in efforts to restore normalcy. Additionally, power had reached the westernmost Pinar del Río province, which was the last region to receive electricity just before sunset.

This recent blackout is the fourth nationwide power outage Cuba has faced since October, highlighting the fragility of its electrical infrastructure. The country’s oil-fired generation system, already outdated, has struggled due to dwindling fuel supplies from Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico, and compounded by last year’s crises that pushed the system closer to collapse.

Prior to the blackout, many areas on the island were contending with rolling blackouts of up to 20 hours a day, causing severe disruptions. Even with the restoration efforts on Sunday, officials indicated that current electricity generation remained at just one-third of normal demand, leaving many residents still without power.

In light of the ongoing power crisis, the education ministry announced that schools in Pinar del Río, Artemisa, and Mayabeque provinces would remain closed until Tuesday to ensure students’ safety and adequate conditions.

Cuba attributes its worsening energy crisis to a U.S. trade embargo established during the Cold War and recent sanctions that have been reinforced by U.S. President Donald Trump. In response, the government is actively working on developing large solar farms with support from China in an effort to reduce reliance on its struggling oil-fired generation.

As the city began to light up again, residents expressed a mix of relief and frustration about their electricity woes. Lazaro Hernandez, a cafeteria worker, lamented, “It’s very complicated because without electricity, keeping food is difficult.” Meanwhile, local musician Victor Raul Bracho noted that despite the challenges, life must go on. “It’s not like we’re getting used to these problems, but we have to get on with our lives,” he said.