Millions of people in Cuba were left without power after one of the country’s largest thermoelectric power plants shut down.
The capital is Havana and the rest of the west Cuba – The western town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camagüey was plunged into darkness after Wednesday’s power outage.
State radio station Radio Rebelde quoted an energy official as saying the problem was caused by a boiler leak at the Antonio Guiteras plant, 62 miles (100 km) east of Havana.
A man crosses a street in Havana, Cuba after a power outage at a thermoelectric plant. Image: AP
Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy wrote in X that the government is powering up critical infrastructure — including hospitals and medical clinics — in the affected area.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy warned American citizens in Cuba to “be prepared for significant disruptions” and to conserve fuel, water, food and mobile phone batteries.
By Wednesday afternoon, the Cuban government said crews had restored power to 2.5% of Havana — about 21,100 — as efforts were gradual and relative to what system conditions would allow.
And on Thursday morning Cuba’s energy ministry said the national electricity grid had been reconnected from Guantanamo in eastern Cuba to Pinar del Río in the far west and power generation was being brought back online.
In Havana, 22 substations and 102 distribution circuits have been restored, covering roughly 36% of the city, according to local utility EELH — a process that will continue gradually as conditions on the national grid allow, the agency said.
It is the second widespread blackout to hit Cuba in three months, and the country was placed under a strict oil and gas embargo last month by the Trump administration, which has caused oil shortages and, according to international charities, a humanitarian crisis.
Images: AP
The outage lasted about 12 hours in early December after officials said a fault in a transmission line connecting the two power plants caused an overload and the collapse of the western sector of the power system.
The country’s oil reserves are dwindling after the US military took over Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January, which led to the halting of critical petroleum shipments from South America.
The US has maintained a strict trade embargo on Cuba since 1962, following the failed, CIA-sponsored invasion of the Bay of Pigs island.
Map showing Cuba and Florida
Donald Trump Last month, Havana expanded that embargo by signing an executive order imposing trade tariffs on countries that export oil.
Experts from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned the move and accused the US of “serious violations of international law and a serious threat to a democratic and equitable international order”.
Mexico and Canada have sent aid to Cuba in the wake of the embargo. But the Caribbean country is already struggling with a crumbling electric grid, a lack of generation and disruptions in energy supplies.
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Earlier this week Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina and an ally of the US president, hinted at a communist regime. Havana could be the next US military target.
Last Friday, Mr. Trump told reporters outside the White House that he was likely to have a “friendly takeover of Cuba,” without elaborating on what he meant.
