Basilio Gutierrez, Cuba’s ambassador to Ecuador, and his diplomatic staff were given 48 hours to leave Quito.
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Published March 5, 2026
Power outages have occurred in most parts of Cuba, including the capital Havana, the state-owned power company has announced, as the administration of US President Donald Trump continues its attempts to cripple the Caribbean nation by cutting vital oil shipments.
News of Wednesday’s widespread power outage emerged as diplomatic relations with Ecuador’s Latin American neighbor plummeted after the expulsion of Havana’s top envoy and diplomatic staff from Ecuador’s capital Quito was announced.
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Cuba’s state media outlet Cubadebate said the power outage was caused by a failure at the Antonio Guitteras thermoelectric power plant, located about 100 kilometers east of Havana, and cut off power from Pinar del Rio in the country’s far west to Las Tunas province in the east.
State-owned power company UNE said two-thirds of the country, including Havana, was without power, and efforts were being made to restore services.
In Havana, Cuban state television temporarily stopped broadcasting due to a power outage. The afternoon national news broadcast began more than 30 minutes later than the scheduled broadcast time, and the host explained that the delay was due to a power outage.
Cuba’s power generation system has been in disarray for years. Parts of the impoverished island lack the fuel needed to generate electricity, and power outages of up to 20 hours a day are common.
The power crisis has worsened since the United States abducted President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Cuba’s biggest ally, in January.
Venezuela used to supply about half of Cuba’s fuel, but the U.S. government cut off its supply after it kidnapped President Maduro and eased some of the oil embargo on Havana amid warnings from other Caribbean countries that it could trigger the country’s economic collapse.
Fuel shortages have also forced the Cuban government to ration key services such as waste collection and public transportation.
President Trump’s “friendly takeover” of Cuba
In another sign of intense US pressure, Ecuador announced Wednesday that it had declared Cuban Ambassador Basilio Gutierrez and his diplomatic staff “persona non grata” and given them 48 hours to leave the country.
Officials did not explain why the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Novoa took the decision, but cited Article 9 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which allows it to declare members of a diplomatic mission unwelcome or inadmissible in a host country at any time.
Novoa is a close ally of US President Donald Trump, who recently suggested the US could make a “friendly takeover” of Cuba.
Ecuador did not say whether the move against the Cuban embassy meant it would formally sever diplomatic ties with Havana.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla fired back in a social media post, saying he rejected “in the strongest terms the arbitrary and unjust decision of the Ecuadorian government to expel all staff from its embassy in Cuba.”
“It seems no coincidence that this decision was taken in a context characterized by the intensification of the United States’ aggression against Cuba and strong pressure by the country’s government on third countries to join the policy,” he said on the X Platform.
“Cuba is confident that the Ecuadorian people know how to uphold the bonds of unity and brotherhood,” he added.
