Cuba blackout continues as power grid fails again

Cuba suffered a second nationwide blackout on Saturday, hours after officials said power was being slowly restored.

Millions of people on the island have been left without power over the last few days after the aging Cuban electrical grid repeatedly collapsed.

The government implemented emergency measures to cut energy demand, including suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.

Previously Cuban officials said small pockets of power had been restored across the island although there were no immediate numbers provided of how many people had their service reconnected.

Some Cubans complained on social media that their power briefly returned before flickering out.

The blackouts threatened to plunge the communist-run nation into a deeper crisis, as without power people would also not have running water and refrigerated food would quickly begin to spoil.

Cuban officials have blamed the impoverished state of the island’s infrastructure on US economic sanctions and disruptions caused by recent hurricanes.

In a televised address on Thursday that was delayed by technical difficulties, Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz said much of the country’s limited production was stopped to avoid leaving people completely without power.

“We have been paralyzing economic activity to generate (power) to the population,” he said.

The country’s health minister, José Angel Portal Miranda, said on X that the country’s health facilities were running on generators and that health workers continued to provide vital services.

In Havana, motorists on Friday tried to navigate a city where no street lights appeared to be working and only a handful of police were directing traffic.

Classes at schools were canceled on Friday and nightclubs and recreation centres were ordered closed, to save power.

Only “indispensable workers” should show up at their jobs, according to a list of energy-saving measures published by the state-run website Cubadebate.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know…