Cuba Suffers Third Nationwide Blackout in 10 Days as Grid Collapses

Cuba’s national power grid collapsed on July 14, leaving the entire island without electricity for the third time in less than 10 days. The outage began around 11 a.m. local time when the system went offline, according to the state-run electricity company UNE.

Approximately 10 million people were left without power. Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines stated on social media that there had been a total disconnection of the electrical system. The blackout follows two earlier nationwide outages the previous week, each of which required more than 24 hours to restore service across the island.

Much of the country’s electricity infrastructure dates to the 1960s and 1980s. The repeated failures occurred amid an oil blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in January 2025 after the United States removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Venezuela had been Cuba’s main supplier of subsidized oil, and Mexico halted fuel shipments to Cuba under U.S. pressure. As of 2023, Cuba produced only about 40 percent of the oil it consumed, according to the International Energy Agency.

Havana attributes the shortages to the U.S. measures, while Washington holds Cuba’s government responsible for the deteriorating power system. U.S. Ambassador Michael Waltz said at a UN General Assembly debate last week that Cuba’s leaders were to blame.

“Change your ways and turn the lights back on for your people,” he said.