US President Donald Trump has placed the Caribbean island under a virtual oil blockade, straining its aging power grid.
Cuba reported its second nationwide power outage in less than a week, plunging the island into darkness just before evening.
On Friday, Union Electrica de Cuba, the state-run power company responsible for the power grid, said the power outage began at 4:30pm local time (20:30 GMT).
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There was no explanation given for the power outage. However, a similar power outage occurred on Monday, bringing the total number of power outages islandwide since the start of the year to four. Two more total power outages occurred in March.
Cuba’s electricity infrastructure is aging and power outages are common. Much of this system dates back to the Cold War era from 1960 to 1980.
But the issue has intensified since January, when US President Donald Trump effectively cut off foreign oil supplies to Cuba.
Cuba is already under the longest trade embargo in modern history. Since the 1960s, the United States has largely banned trade with the island, which is about 90 miles, or 90 miles, from the coast.
But since taking office for his second term, President Trump has been trying to bring about regime change on the communist-led island. Critics have long accused the Havana government of human rights abuses, including violent repression of opposition.
On January 3, President Trump authorized a military operation against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist leader and ally of the Cuban government. The operation culminated in Maduro’s abduction and extradition to New York, where he remains imprisoned on drug and weapons charges.
Immediately after Maduro’s ouster, President Trump announced that Venezuela would no longer send oil or funds to Cuba. The regime has continued to restrict Venezuelan oil exports in the months since.
Then, on January 29, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that Cuba “constitutes an unusual and unusual threat” to the United States. As part of his order, he threatened to impose hefty tariffs on countries that supply fuel to the island.
Since then, only one Russian oil tanker has reached mainland Cuba, and that was in March.
According to the International Energy Agency, as of 2023 Cuba will only produce 40% of the oil it uses. The rest is imported from overseas.
Human rights experts have warned that Cuba’s civilian population could be affected if fuel depletion continues as public services such as transportation are shut down.
In June, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk pointed to statistics showing that infant mortality rates had nearly doubled in recent months.
“The fuel restrictions imposed since the beginning of 2026 and the recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming the Cuban people, especially the most vulnerable,” Turk said in a statement.
“Children are dying because doctors can’t get the medical supplies and medicines they need. This is unacceptable.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration claims that the cause of the power outages is the Cuban government’s mismanagement.
“We have done nothing punitive against the Cuban regime,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Al Jazeera in March.
Prior to the fuel blockade, Cuba had plans to shift some of its energy infrastructure away from fossil fuels in favor of solar and other renewable energy sources.
It accelerated that transition with the help of solar power technology imported from China, the United States’ main economic rival.
Still, according to 2022 estimates, renewable energy will account for only about 18% of Cuba’s total energy consumption. Cuba aims to produce nearly a quarter of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.
