Cuba begins restoring power after second grid collapse in a week

Cuba's power grid collapsed for the second time in a week, leaving millions without power amid a U.S. blockade squeezing oil and other resources.

Cuba is restoring power to its national grid on Sunday, March 22, after the system collapsed for the second time in a week amid a U.S. oil blockade that has dealt a major blow to the island's ailing energy infrastructure.

The grid collapsed the evening of March 21 at 6:32 p.m. local time after a major power plant in Nuevitas, a municipality in the island's eastern province of Camagüey, failed and went offline, setting off a domino effect of power loss for the rest of the nation, the national power operator UNE said on social media.

The operator added that the island has set up microsystems of smaller, closed circuits throughout the provinces to route and ensure power for vital services such as hospitals, blood banks, water supply, and food distribution.

Power has been slowly restored to other parts of the island outside the microsystems, including at two gas-fired power plants in Varadero and Boca de Jarucom, and an oil-fired plant in Santa Cruz. The island also fired up a boiler at the country's largest power plant, according to a recent social media update from Cuba's energy ministry.

The latest power outage comes as Cuba faces hardship, including multiple power outages, protests, and a lack of oil as a result of a U.S. blockade that has worsened the island's already outdated generation system. Cuba's national electric grid collapsed on March 16, the second time in a month that has seen a series of outages, including one sparking a rare violent protest in the communist-run country.