Cuba begins to restore power after third nationwide collapse in month

Cuba begins restoring power after a nationwide grid collapse, affecting thousands amid an ongoing energy crisis and blackouts.

Cuba began restoring its energy system on Sunday (March 22, 2026), a day after a nationwide collapse of the entire grid left millions of people in the dark for the third time this month.

Some 72,000 customers in the capital, among them five hospitals, had electricity again early Sunday (March 22, 2026, according to a report from the state-run Electric Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, but it's only a fraction of Havana's total population of approximately 2 million.

In Havana and provinces such as western Matanzas and eastern Holguin, local power microsystems were set up to supply the most vital centres. Residents in some areas of the capital told The Associated Press that power returned during the early morning hours.

Cuba is currently facing an unprecedented energy crisis. Its ageing grid has drastically eroded in recent years, but the government has also blamed the outages on a U.S. energy blockade, after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.

His administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalisation in return for a lifting of sanctions. Mr. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.” Another reason Cuba has been struggling with dwindling oil is the removal by the U.S. of Venezuela's former President Nicolás Maduro, which halted critical petroleum shipments from the nation that had been a steadfast ally to Havana.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel has said the island has not received oil from foreign suppliers for three months. Cuba produces barely 40% of the fuel it needs to power its economy.