Cuba in Darkness: Nationwide Blackout Exposes Fragile Power Grid and Deepening Crisis

By IndraStra Global News Team

Cover Image Attribute: The file photo of the third nationwide blackout of 2024, dated December 5, 2024, in Havana (Cuba). / Source: Agencia EFE La Habana - Ernesto Mastrascusa.

On Saturday, March 15, 2025, Cuba awoke to a near-total blackout after its national energy grid collapsed the previous night, plunging the island nation of 10 million people into darkness and exposing the fragility of its aging power infrastructure. The grid failure, which occurred around 8:15 p.m. local time on Friday (0015 GMT), was triggered by a shorted component in a transmission line at a substation in Havana, setting off a catastrophic chain reaction that shut down power generation across the country, according to officials from Cuba’s grid operator, Unión Eléctrica (UNE), and the energy and mines ministry. By sunrise, UNE reported generating a mere 225 megawatts (MW) of electricity—less than 10% of the island’s total demand—barely enough to sustain critical services like hospitals, water supply systems, and food production centers. Authorities have begun the arduous task of restarting the country’s decades-old power plants, though no timeline for full restoration has been provided, leaving Cubans in a state of uncertainty as they grapple with yet another blow to their daily lives.
The collapse marks the latest in a series of nationwide blackouts that have plagued Cuba, with a particularly severe string of outages late last year throwing the country’s already frail power system into chaos. Those disruptions, compounded by fuel shortages, natural disasters, and a deepening economic crisis, have left most Cubans outside Havana accustomed to rolling blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day in recent weeks. Even the capital, which had been relatively spared, was not immune this time. On Saturday morning, Havana’s streets were eerily quiet, with light traffic weaving through intersections where stoplights stood dark and useless. Cellular internet, a lifeline for many, was weak or entirely unavailable in some areas, further isolating residents. Along the city’s iconic Malecón waterfront, Abel Bonne sat with friends, enjoying the sea breeze after a stifling night without power. “Right now, no one knows when the power will come back on,” he said, noting that while this was the first major blackout of 2025, the island had endured three similar incidents the previous year.
The outage darkened Havana’s waterfront skyline, with only a handful of tourist hotels flickering with generator-powered lights, as observed by a Reuters witness. Social media reports from provinces as distant as Guantánamo, Artemisa, Santiago de Cuba, and Santa Clara confirmed the blackout’s reach, painting a picture of a nation entirely unplugged. For many Cubans, the lack of electricity is more than an inconvenience—it’s a threat to survival. In a country where power is essential for cooking and pumping water, prolonged outages exacerbate already dire shortages of food, medicine, and potable water. Yunior Reyes, a bike taxi driver in Havana, was back at work on Saturday despite the blackout, pedaling through the streets while worrying about his food reserves spoiling in the day’s heat. “Life is unbearable enough without this,” he said, echoing a sentiment felt by many who have watched their quality of life deteriorate amid cascading crises.
Cuba’s government has long attributed its economic woes and infrastructure challenges to a Cold War-era U.S. trade embargo, a complex web of sanctions that complicates financial transactions and hinders the importation of essentials like fuel and spare parts. A grid official reiterated this stance on Saturday, explaining that the embargo has prevented the country from updating its antiquated transmission and generation systems, leaving them prone to failures like the one that occurred Friday night. The situation has only worsened under tightened U.S. sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, who recently vowed to restore a “tough” policy toward Cuba’s communist-run government, a long-standing adversary of the United States. Critics of the embargo argue it has crippled Cuba’s ability to modernize, while supporters contend it pressures the government to enact reforms. For ordinary Cubans, however, the political debate offers little solace as they endure the tangible consequences of a crumbling grid.
The UNE, had warned in its daily report on Friday that peak-hour demand would reach approximately 3,250 MW, with a deficit of 1,380 MW—meaning 42% of the national energy system would be offline even before the collapse. While this figure is not the highest shortfall in recent memory, it underscores the chronic strain on a system that has struggled to keep pace with the island’s needs. Months of hours-long rolling blackouts have become the norm, with more than half the country losing power during peak hours. In rural areas, where electricity is vital for basic tasks like cooking and water distribution, the impact is especially acute. The latest collapse follows a pattern of instability that has fueled discontent, with blackouts previously sparking anti-government protests in 2021, 2022, and 2024—demonstrations that reflect growing frustration with both the government and the conditions it oversees.
In response to the crisis, Cuban authorities have launched initiatives to bolster the energy grid, including a program to install photovoltaic parks across the island. Officials have promised that dozens of these solar facilities will be operational by the end of 2025, offering a potential lifeline to a nation desperate for reliable power. Yet, for now, such plans remain a distant hope as the immediate focus shifts to recovery. The energy ministry took to X on Saturday to assure the public it was “working on the recovery process,” but the lack of a concrete timeline has left many skeptical. For residents like Abel Bonne, who spent the morning chatting by the sea, the wait feels all too familiar. “We’ve been through this before,” he said, a resigned note in his voice. “You just try to make the best of it.”
The blackout’s ripple effects extend beyond the immediate loss of power, deepening a humanitarian crisis that has driven record-breaking numbers of Cubans to flee the island in recent years. Severe shortages have made life increasingly untenable, with families struggling to secure basic necessities amid an economy battered by both internal mismanagement and external pressures. The grid collapse serves as a stark reminder of Cuba’s precarious position, caught between a deteriorating infrastructure and a geopolitical standoff that shows no signs of abating. As the day wore on, Havana’s streets remained subdued, its residents adapting to yet another disruption in a long line of hardships. For Yunior Reyes, pedaling his bike taxi under the midday sun, the stakes were personal. “If the power doesn’t come back soon, everything I have will go bad,” he said, a quiet plea for relief in a country where resilience has become a daily necessity. Whether the government can deliver that relief—or whether this blackout will ignite further unrest—remains an open question as Cuba navigates its latest trial.
With reporting by The Guardian and Reuters

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