KEY POINTS
- Cuba’s grid has collapsed four times in 48 hours.
- Hurricane Oscar intensified the ongoing infrastructure crisis.
- Protests erupted in Havana as residents face extended outages.
As Hurricane Oscar made landfall on Sunday, Cuba’s power grid collapsed for the fourth time in 48 hours, worsening the island’s already critical infrastructure issues.
Hurricane Oscar worsens Cuba’s energy crisis
Millions of people remained without power on Sunday, despite the government claiming progress in restoring service after previous outages. “Restoration work began immediately,” the energy and mines ministry said on X.
Hurricane Oscar brought storm surges, heavy rain, and severe winds to eastern Cuba, creating “an extremely dangerous situation,” according to Cuba’s meteorological survey. The U.S. National Hurricane Center reported winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and predicted the storm would continue across eastern Cuba on Monday before heading toward the Bahamas on Tuesday.
In a rare move, Cuba’s government suspended classes through Wednesday, citing both the hurricane and the energy crisis. Only essential workers were expected to report to work on Monday. Residents are already grappling with extreme shortages of fuel, food, and medicine, worsened by ongoing power outages.
Before Sunday’s failure, the energy ministry restored electricity to 160,000 customers in Havana. However, after three days without power, Anabel Gonzalez, a resident of Old Havana, said she was desperate. “My cell phone is dead, and everything in my refrigerator is spoiled,” she said, gesturing to empty shelves.
Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said the government hoped to fully restore power by Monday or Tuesday but warned that progress could be slow. The grid first failed on Friday when the island’s largest power plant shut down, with further collapses on Saturday and Sunday.
Cuban government struggles to restore electricity amid protests
According to a report by Reuters, following Saturday’s grid failure, protests broke out in Havana, with small demonstrations reported in Marianao and Cuatro Caminos. Several protest videos circulated on social media, but Reuters could not verify their authenticity.
O Levy acknowledged the frustration caused by blackouts but claimed most Cubans supported the government’s restoration efforts. He described the protests as “isolated” and said, “It is Cuban culture to cooperate.”
Internet access plummeted over the weekend, as widespread outages left residents unable to charge devices. “Cuba remains largely offline,” said internet monitoring group NetBlocks.
Cuba’s worsening blackouts, which have lasted up to 20 hours a day, are attributed to deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages, and U.S. sanctions. The government blames the U.S. embargo and sanctions imposed by former President Donald Trump for its struggles to obtain fuel and spare parts for aging power plants. The U.S. denies any involvement.
Cuba relies heavily on fuel imports, but key suppliers like Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico have significantly reduced exports. Venezuela, facing its own fuel crisis, has cut its shipments to Cuba by half this year, while Mexico has also reduced fuel deliveries.
