Cuba announces second nationwide blackout in less than a week
By Max Saltman, Mauricio Torres, CNN
(CNN) — Cuba’s Ministry of Energy announced Saturday evening that entire island has suffered another electrical blackout, leaving more than 10 million people without power.
“A total disconnection of the National Electric System has occurred,” the ministry said in a post on X. “Protocols for restoration are already beginning to be implemented.”
Cuba was still recovering from an earlier nationwide power grid collapse on Monday, the first since the US began blocking fuel supplies from Venezuela earlier this year. Just prior to Saturday’s blackout, the country’s state-owned electric company had reported on social media that it was expecting a power deficit of 1.704 megawatts during its busiest period on Saturday night.
US President Donald Trump has spoken frequently in recent weeks about Cuba, predicting an imminent collapse of the ruling communist government there. On Monday, he wondered aloud whether he would have the “honor of taking” the island.
“You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about United States and Cuba, when will the United States having the honor of taking Cuba? That’s a big honor,” Trump said from the White House. “Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba — I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it.”
The president refused to say when asked whether an operation to “take” Cuba would involve the same level of force as the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January.
Yesterday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a speech to international activists bringing humanitarian aid to the island that his government recognizes that “there could be an attack on Cuba,” and is preparing accordingly.
Last week, Díaz-Canel confirmed in a national address that Cuba was speaking with its US counterparts about negotiations to end the fuel embargo. Since then, Cuba’s government has clarified that it does not intend to negotiate about its political system.
Since Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the country has been under a strict economic embargo from the United States. Cuba has weathered through previous stretches of severe economic uncertainty, such as the “Special Period,” when the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union cut the communist government’s main source of outside assistance.
This latest crisis is similarly bleak. The lack of fuel from Mexico and Venezuela has stopped virtually all tourism to the island, disrupted education, cut services at hospitals and has prevented farmers from bringing their produce to market.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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CNN’s Uriel Blanco, Patrick Oppmann and Anabella González contributed.
