Widespread Power Outage Hits Cuba as Energy Crisis Deepens

A widespread power outage struck most of Cuba on Wednesday, including the capital Havana, after a failure at the country’s largest thermoelectric plant, highlighting the fragile state of the island’s electricity system.

State power utility Unión Eléctrica (UNE) said the blackout was triggered by an unexpected shutdown at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located about 100 kilometers east of Havana. The outage disrupted electricity across a large part of the country, cutting power from the western province of Pinar del Río to Camagüey in central-eastern Cuba.

Additional failures at substations in Las Tunas province further worsened the situation, leaving only the far eastern provinces with electricity, according to officials speaking on state television.

Authorities said repairs at the Guiteras plant could take between three and four days. Roman Pérez, the facility’s technical director, told regional newspaper Girón that engineers are working to fix problems in the plant’s boiler system, including malfunctioning components in the superheater and several leaks that have affected operations.

The blackout is the latest in a series of major power disruptions that have hit the Caribbean nation in recent years, as its aging energy infrastructure struggles to keep up with demand.

Cuba’s government has attributed the country’s deepening energy crisis partly to decades of U.S. economic sanctions, which it says have limited access to fuel supplies and financing for infrastructure upgrades. The situation has worsened in recent months as oil shipments from traditional partners have declined.

Fuel shortages have been exacerbated by reduced deliveries from Venezuela, historically Cuba’s main supplier, following political changes earlier this year after Washington-backed efforts led to the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

Frequent electricity shortages have become a routine part of daily life across the island. Residents in Havana are accustomed to scheduled power rationing, and many took the latest blackout largely in stride.

Despite the widespread outage, some traffic lights and businesses remained operational thanks to backup generators or solar power systems, offering limited relief while technicians worked to restore electricity to the grid.

The latest disruption underscores the mounting challenges facing Cuba’s energy sector, as the government attempts to stabilize power generation while grappling with economic constraints and ongoing fuel shortages.