Cuba slowly begins to restore power after island-wide blackout By Reuters

By Dave Sherwood and Marianna Parraga

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba restored power outages by mid-afternoon on Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a nationwide blackout following the collapse of its main power plant.

Most of the country's 10 million citizens were still in the dark on Friday night, but scattered pockets of the capital Havana, including the city's major hospitals, saw lights come on shortly after dark.

Grid operator UNE said it hoped to restart at least five of its oil fields overnight, providing enough power, it said, to begin restoring power to most parts of the country.

The Communist-run government closed schools and non-essential industries early Friday and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on after weeks of power outages. Entertainment and cultural activities, including nightclubs, have also been ordered to close.

But shortly before noon, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the largest and most efficient in the country, went offline, causing a complete grid failure and suddenly leaving the entire island without power.

Officials said that by Friday they were working to fix the problem that caused the oil refinery to fail. They did not specify the cause of its collapse.

The blackout marks a new low on the island where life has become unbearable, with residents suffering from a lack of food, fuel, water and medicine.

Almost all trading in Havana was suspended on Friday. Many residents were sitting outside sweating. Tourists were hunting out of frustration. By nightfall, the city was completely covered in darkness.

“We went to a restaurant and they didn't have food because there was no power, now we don't have internet either,” said Brazilian tourist Carlos Roberto Julio, who recently arrived in Havana. “In two days, we already have several problems. .”

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero this week blamed the worst power outages in the past few weeks on a powerful hurricane known to many Cubans – crumbling infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.

“The lack of fuel is the main reason,” Marrero said in a televised message to the nation.

Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week crippled the island's ability to deliver scarce fuel from offshore vessels to its power plants, officials said.

FUEL DOWN

The Cuban government also blamed the US trade embargo, as well as sanctions under then-President Donald Trump, for difficulties in obtaining fuel and metals for oil-based industries.

“This complex situation is mainly due to the intensification of the economic war and the financial and power persecution of the United States,” said Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel on Thursday.

A spokesman for the White House National Security Council said, “The United States should not be blamed for today's blackout on the island, or the entire power situation in Cuba.”

A State Department official said late Friday that Washington was closely monitoring the humanitarian impact of the blackout, but the Cuban government had not yet requested aid.

For many Cubans, who are largely aloof from politics and used to regular blackouts, the nationwide power outage was a routine Friday night.

Carlos Manuel Pedre said he had not stopped enjoying himself to pass the time.

“In these times we live in, as everything is happening in our country, dominoes are a meaningful entertainment,” he said while playing this popular game with his friends. “We're in total trouble.”

Although demand for electricity has grown in recent years and Cuba's emerging private sector, the supply of fuel has fallen sharply.

Cuba's biggest oil supplier, Venezuela, cut shipments to the island to an average of 32,600 barrels a day in the first nine months of the year, about half of the 60,000 bpd it sent in the same period in 2023, according to vessel monitoring data and internal shipping documents from Venezuela's state-owned oil company -PDVSA.

PDVSA, whose refining infrastructure is also ailing, has this year tried to avoid a new wave of fuel shortages at home, leaving small quantities available for export to allied countries such as Cuba.

Russia and Mexico, which have previously exported fuel to Cuba, have also significantly reduced exports.

The deficit has left Cuba to fend for itself in an increasingly expensive market while its government is running out of cash.