Eastern Cuba Restores Power After Major Blackout

Four of the five eastern provinces of Cuba, including Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo, suffered a large scale blackout on Thursday. The Cuban state electricity union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines attributed the outage to an oscillation in the transmission lines, which caused several thermoelectric plants to go offline. Power was restored to the region by Thursday night.

This event is part of a broader energy crisis on the island. One source reports that the country has seen at least six general blackouts since the start of the year, with a total of 11 massive cuts since late 2024. Another source notes that this was the second partial blackout in August, following a similar event in the western region earlier in the month.

There is disagreement regarding the cause of the crisis. A center leaning source notes that Havana blames the U.S. embargo and fuel shortages, while the U.S. attributes the situation to internal economic mismanagement. A center right leaning source mentions that the crisis is aggravated by the U.S. energy and commercial blockade. Amidst these events, President Miguel Díaz-Canel denied that the country is on the verge of collapse, citing the upcoming return of 1.5 million students to school on September 1 as evidence of stability.