Millions of people across Havana and western Cuba were plunged into darkness on Wednesday following a widespread power outage, marking the latest crisis for an island grappling with severe energy shortages and a crumbling electric grid.
The extensive blackout, which stretched from the western town of Pinar del Rio to the central town of Camaguey, was triggered by the shutdown of one of Cuba's largest thermoelectric power plants. An energy official, quoted by state radio station Radio Rebelde, indicated that restoring operations at the affected plant could take a minimum of 72 hours.
Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy confirmed on social platform X late Wednesday that critical infrastructure, including hospitals and medical clinics, was being prioritised for power as two other plants began to come online. The government's electric utility had earlier announced the extensive reach of the outage via X.
The U.S. Embassy warned people to “prepare for significant disruptions” and conserve fuel, water, food and mobile phone batteries. “Cuba’s national power grid is increasingly unreliable, and scheduled and unscheduled power outages are prolonged and a daily occurrence across the country, including Havana,” it said on X.
By late afternoon, the government said crews had restored power to 2.5% of Havana, or some 21,100 customers, noting that efforts were gradual and tied to what the system's conditions would allow. It did not provide updated numbers by late Wednesday night.
Daily, prolonged outages have become so common in Cuba that 66-year-old Genoveva Torres was waiting for power to return at night as usual to cook dinner. “My God, until when?” she exclaimed. “Then we won't eat. We'll have to eat bread again.”
