An escalating US pressure campaign, including an oil blockade, is straining the Caribbean country’s aging energy infrastructure.
listen to this article3 minutes
information
Published March 7, 2026
Cuban authorities have announced that repair teams have successfully repaired a large thermoelectric power plant that went offline earlier this week, causing power outages across the island, where tensions are high under U.S.-imposed restrictions.
Félix Estrada Rodríguez, a top engineer at the Cuban Electric Union, told state media Canal Caribe that the Antonio Guiteras plant is scheduled to resume operations by Saturday afternoon.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
He also explained that the pace of repairs was a result of difficult working conditions and safety concerns.
“It’s a closed space with high temperatures,” Estrada Rodriguez said.
A boiler failure shut down factories and caused power outages on Wednesday, leaving millions of people without power in the country’s western region.
Widespread power outages have increased in recent months as the United States takes steps to further isolate Cuba and push the country’s energy system to breaking point.
Following the abduction and imprisonment of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, President Trump moved to cut off the flow of oil and money between Cuba and the South American nation.
Then, on January 29, he issued an executive order threatening economic measures against countries that supplied oil to Cuba.
The island’s aging energy grid continues to rely heavily on fossil fuels, but it is taking steps to increase its supply of alternative power sources.
For example, China is helping Cuba develop its solar energy supply, and thousands of panels have been exported to Cuba.
Still, the U.S. oil blockade against Cuba has heightened the economic and humanitarian crisis on the island, which also suffers from a decades-long U.S. embargo.
The pressure campaign has intensified since US President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025.
President Trump has openly talked about overthrowing the Cuban government and has tightened economic restrictions to worsen the situation in Cuba.
President Trump earlier this week embraced the threat of U.S. military action to reshape Latin America, saying regime change in Havana was “a matter of time.”
On Saturday, President Trump repeated his threats against Cuba at a summit of Latin American right-wing leaders. He suggested that the island’s communist government was “in its final moments.”
“Cuba is on the front lines. They’re right on the edge. They don’t have money, they don’t have oil. They have bad philosophy. They’ve had a bad government for a long time,” Trump said.
Demonstrations have erupted in Cuba in the past in response to chronic power outages, shortages of supplies and dissatisfaction with the Havana government, which has repressed opposition.
Cuba’s electricity union did not provide details on Saturday about how many people remained without power, but said about 1,000 megawatts of power was available. This is enough to meet less than half of Cuba’s current demand.
The government has announced a series of austerity measures aimed at saving energy, and protests erupted after recent power outages.
