Eastern Cuba was hit by a large-scale power outage on Thursday. This happened at a time when Energy Minister Vicente de la O’Levy officially confirmed that the country has run out of diesel and heating oil supplies. TASR informs about it with reference to AFP and Reuters agencies.
The state energy company Unión Eléctrica (UNE) announced that the blackout affected all the eastern provinces from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo, including the second largest city of Santiago de Cuba.
Outages also repeatedly affect the capital city of Havana, sometimes lasting 20 or 22 hours a day. According to the Reuters agency, there were local protests there on Wednesday evening, during which residents smashed pots. In some provinces, outages last for several days. Since 2024, Cubans have experienced seven nationwide blackouts.
Electricity production in Cuba is provided by eight old thermal power plants, some of which have been in operation for more than 40 years. They often break down or have to be shut down for maintenance. On Tuesday, according to the AFP agency, 65 percent of the Cuban territory was without electricity.
Cuba’s energy crisis worsened in January when The US deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and imposed an oil embargo on the island nation. At the same time, Venezuela supplied Cuba with roughly half of the fuel it needed. Since then, only one Russian tanker has arrived in Cuba, and the oil it brought has already run out. Another expected Russian tanker got stuck in the Atlantic Ocean for several weeks.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez blame the crisis on the US blockade. Washington imposed new sanctions on Cuban officials in early May and is applying restrictive tariffs on countries that supply fuel to Cuba.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered Cuba $100 million in humanitarian aidbut with the condition that it would be distributed by the Catholic Church, thus bypassing the communist government in Havana.
