70% of Cuba's population has power back after blackout

Havan: Seventy percent of Cuba s population now has power, four days after a nationwide blackout triggered by the collapse of the island s largest pow...

Havan: Seventy percent of Cuba's population now has power, four days after a nationwide blackout triggered by the collapse of the island's largest power plant, and as the country recovers from Hurricane Oscar, the government said on Tuesday.

"This morning, 70.89 percent of customers in Cuba have power," the energy ministry said on X, formerly Twitter, adding that it was working to restore service to more people.

The lights went out for the Communist-run country's 11 million people on Friday after the collapse of the Antonio Guiteras plant, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Havana, which crippled the entire power grid.

The situation was complicated by the passage of Oscar, which struck Cuba on Sunday as a Category 1 storm. At least six people have died as a result of the hurricane, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis since the breakup of key ally the Soviet Union in the early 1990s -- marked by soaring inflation and shortages of basic goods.