Cuba faces yet another nationwide blackout as electrical grid collapses

CNN

By Diego Mendoza, CNN

(CNN) — Cuba’s energy grid collapsed late Sunday, the state-owned electricity utility announced on social media, plunging the Caribbean country into yet another nationwide blackout.

Sunday’s blackout is the first of August, and comes after the island of 10-million people suffered three in July as the US continues imposing an oil blockade that is testing the country’s aging energy infrastructure.

The state utility company did not offer further details about the blackout.

Cuba has struggled to import fuel since the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Havana’s closest ally. Mexico has also halted exports in response to US pressure.

The rolling blackouts this summer have proved increasingly difficult for locals, many of whom are forced to wake up in the middle of the night and cook, wash, use the internet, and cool-off during the hot summer months, unsure of how many hours electricity will last.

US pressure has slowly pushed Havana into making some economic reforms.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruzden in July announced the government had approved the first foreign investment venture to import and sell fuel, Reuters reported, adding that nearly 200 businesses on the island had been given permission to engage in wholesale fuel distribution.

Lawmakers have also approved some measures authorizing private investment into the tourism industry, which has been devastated by the departure of hotel giants in response to US sanctions and flight cancellations due to fuel shortages.

Still, the government has acknowledged these are incremental, and it will take time for the sweeping economic reforms to make noticeable changes.

“The results will be achieved gradually,” Marrero said on Wednesday. “Starting now, the most important, and perhaps the most difficult, stage begins.”

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