Cuba’s power grid collapsed once again this week, this time at a national level, leaving millions of people across the island without electricity. This is the sixth time since the US cut off fuel sources to the island since January that the national grid has collapsed and it's the most utility shutdown events in the country's recent history.
Even when Cuba's grid is in operation, only 30% of the population at most receives electricity at any given time. Many regions stay dark 20 to 30 hours at a stretch. Some provinces have reported 60–90 hours without power. Havana has gone from 4 hours a day early in the year to 18 hours after the fuel cutoff.
"Protocols are now in place to begin the gradual restoration of the system," said Felix Estrada, an official with Cuba's National Electrical Union (UNE). Power had returned to a handful of scattered neighborhoods in Havana by late evening, primarily around hospitals, but much of the city remained completely dark.
Many exhausted residents of the capital Havana were already without power when the national blackout hit.
"Yesterday I'd gone without power for 24 hours. They turned the lights on for an hour, and then the grid collapsed," said Frank Lorenzo, a 23-year-old Havana resident.
Around 61% of Cuba's oil was sourced from Venezuela until the US capture of illegitimate president Nicolas Maduro. Shipments from Mexico have were also scaled back and then cut off. Russia has sent only one tanker so far this year.
Reports of a "shadow fleet" of tankers carrying Iranian oil to Cuba have circulated since at least 2020. Investigations of the seized tanker "Skipper" in 2025 found it had previously carried Iranian oil to Syria and China, then later moved Venezuelan oil on a route tied to Cuba. It confirmed the existence of overlapping Iran–Venezuela–Cuba shipping networks.
The US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has proven incredibly effective in shutting down Iranian oil exports, leaving Iran's clandestine trade partners high and dry.
The communist regime has operated as a hub for Chinese, Russian and Iranian operations including intel operations in the western hemisphere for decades. Along with Venezuela, Cuba has represented a hostile eastern foothold in America's backyard. The Trump Administration also accuses the Cuban government of engaging in propaganda programs in the US, working with far-left organizations (including Antifa and Democratic Socialists) to organize activist subversion to undermine national stability.
Cuba reports limited negotiations with US officials and has largely pandered to the American media in the hopes of winning favor in the court of public opinion. As with Iran, Trump seems to be playing the long game, waiting for Cuba to economically falter before entering into serious talks. The frequency of power outages on the island nation is increasing and it will be difficult for Cuba to continue functioning for much longer.
Without an industrial base, agriculture and basic utilities, internal breakdown is inevitable.