Cuba suffers another blackout
HAVANA — Cuba`s electrical grid collapsed again Saturday morning, state-run media reported, plunging the entire country into a blackout for a second time, just hours after authorities announced they had begun reestablishing service.
CubaDebate, one of the island’s state-run media outlets, said Cuba’s grid operator, UNE, reported "total disconnection of the national electro-energetic system" at 6:15 a.m.
"The Electric Union is working on its reestablishment," the brief message reportedly said.
Cuba’s electrical grid first collapsed around midday Friday after one of the island’s largest power plants failed, suddenly leaving more than 10 million people without power.
Even before the grid’s collapse, an electricity shortfall Friday had forced Cuba’s communist-run government to send nonessential state workers home and cancel school classes for children while it sought to conserve fuel for generation.
But lights began to flicker on in scattered pockets across the island Friday evening, offering some hope that power would be restored.
The grid operator has not yet provided details on what caused service to collapse again Saturday or how long it will take to restore power.
Cuba’s government has blamed weeks of worsening blackouts — often 10 to 20 hours a day across much of the island — on deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week also complicated the island's ability to deliver scarce fuel from boats offshore to feed its power plants, officials have said.
Fuel deliveries to the island have dropped significantly this year because Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once key suppliers, have reduced their exports to Cuba.
Key ally Venezuela slashed by half its deliveries of subsidized fuel to Cuba this year, forcing the island to search elsewhere for far-more-expensive oil on the spot market.
Cuba's government also blames the U.S. trade embargo, as well as sanctions under then-President Donald Trump, for ongoing difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil-fired plants.
The United States Friday denied any role in Cuba’s grid collapse.
CubaDebate, one of the island’s state-run media outlets, said Cuba’s grid operator, UNE, reported "total disconnection of the national electro-energetic system" at 6:15 a.m.
"The Electric Union is working on its reestablishment," the brief message reportedly said.
Cuba’s electrical grid first collapsed around midday Friday after one of the island’s largest power plants failed, suddenly leaving more than 10 million people without power.
Even before the grid’s collapse, an electricity shortfall Friday had forced Cuba’s communist-run government to send nonessential state workers home and cancel school classes for children while it sought to conserve fuel for generation.
But lights began to flicker on in scattered pockets across the island Friday evening, offering some hope that power would be restored.
The grid operator has not yet provided details on what caused service to collapse again Saturday or how long it will take to restore power.
Cuba’s government has blamed weeks of worsening blackouts — often 10 to 20 hours a day across much of the island — on deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week also complicated the island's ability to deliver scarce fuel from boats offshore to feed its power plants, officials have said.
Fuel deliveries to the island have dropped significantly this year because Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once key suppliers, have reduced their exports to Cuba.
Key ally Venezuela slashed by half its deliveries of subsidized fuel to Cuba this year, forcing the island to search elsewhere for far-more-expensive oil on the spot market.
Cuba's government also blames the U.S. trade embargo, as well as sanctions under then-President Donald Trump, for ongoing difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil-fired plants.
The United States Friday denied any role in Cuba’s grid collapse.