Cuba suffered its third nationwide blackout in six months on July 6, 2026, when the national electricity grid collapsed, leaving nearly 10 million people without power. State utility UNE reported a total disconnection from the generation system and launched an immediate investigation into the cause.
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This marks the eighth major outage since late 2025 and comes as fuel reserves for aging Soviet-era power plants have reached critically low levels. A US-imposed oil blockade since January has drastically cut imports, with only one Russian tanker allowed to dock so far this year. Extended power cuts were already routine — exceeding 24 hours in parts of Havana and 70 hours in some rural areas — before the full collapse.
Power restoration began in Havana within hours, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera reports on July 6–7, though full recovery across the island is expected to take time. Solar energy now accounts for around 10% of Cuba’s mix, yet it has proven insufficient to offset the systemic fuel and infrastructure crisis.
The blackout compounds a broader humanitarian situation marked by shortages of food, drinking water, and medicine, prompting international concern.
For related coverage of Cuba’s power restoration efforts during the ongoing energy crisis, see: Cuba scrambles to restore power as Trump threatens takeover.
AFP reports: Cuba on Monday suffered its third nationwide power outage since the start of the year, the state electricity company said.
The impoverished island was already struggling to keep the lights on before US President Donald Trump in January imposed an oil blockade, which has depleted the already dwindling supply of fuel for Cuba’s power plants.
“There has been a total disconnection from the national electricity generation system,” the UNE power utility wrote on X, adding that it was “investigating the causes.”
The blackout is the eighth on the island of 9.6 million people since late 2024.
It comes as the state imposes increasingly draconian power cuts across the country — over 24 hours at a stretch in parts of Havana and over 70 hours in some rural areas — in an increasingly desperate attempt to conserve fuel.
Power outages have been a feature of life for years on the communist-run island, where the electricity generation system, composed mainly of ageing Soviet-era plants, is in shambles.
The pace of blackouts has accelerated since the fuel blockade began, however, with authorities citing a lack of fuel to run the generators that support the creaking national grid.
Since January, Washington has only allowed one oil tanker, from Russia, to dock in Cuba.
The blockade, coupled with a flurry of sanctions on the Cuban state and foreign companies that do business with it, have tipped the country closer to the brink of collapse.
Food, drinking water and medicine are in increasingly short supply, prompting the United Nations to warn of a humanitarian emergency.
The government has invested heavily in solar energy to try alleviate the electricity shortages, but solar power, while increasing, still represents just 10 percent of the energy mix.
Original article: Cuba Blackout 2026: Third Nationwide Outage in Six Months Strands 10 Million Amid Fuel Crisis on Planet Today 🚀
Automatically republished from the main blog.