Cuba Restores Power to 5 Provinces After Grid Collapse, Marking 5th Nationwide Blackout of 2026
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 2
Cuba Restores Power to 5 Provinces After Grid Collapse, Marking 5th Nationwide Blackout of 2026
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Aug 2
Summary
Power returned early Sunday to Havana and other western areas after Cuba's state-run UNE repaired a partial grid collapse that left five of the island's 15 provinces without electricity for most of the night.
UNE linked the repeated failures to acute fuel shortages, saying the lack of diesel has crippled emergency generators and made the aging national grid more vulnerable to breakdowns.
Five nationwide blackouts have hit Cuba since the start of 2026, including three in 10 days in July; recent outages lasted more than 30 hours in Havana and several days elsewhere.
Cuba blames a U.S. fuel blockade and tighter sanctions under President Donald Trump, while Washington says Havana's economic mismanagement is responsible for the crisis.
The outages are deepening strain in a country of more than 9 million as Havana pushes market reforms and opens sectors including electricity generation to private firms.