Cuba's electrical grid suffers total collapse
July 6 (UPI) -- Cuba was dealing with another national blackout Monday, its third since the beginning of the year, the country's state energy company said.
The country's energy crisis, already a major issue, has worsened since an oil blockade imposed by the United States. The Cuban energy company said the electrical grid suffered a total collapse and that it is investigating the cause and working to restore power, CNN reported.
The country's energy infrastructure, which includes mostly Soviet-era plants, is aging, and the blockade means there is a lack of fuel with which to run generators to support the electrical grid, The Guardian reported. Even before this blockade, blackouts have been common for years.
Now, the blockade and sanctions have reduced conditions in Cuba to a point where access to essential services such as education and medicine, and even food and water, are suffering.
The United Nations said in April that "the humanitarian needs in the country remain quite acute and persistent," and that Cuba's health systems have a backlog of nearly 100,000 pending surgeries, including 11,000 for children. In addition to the blackouts, schools are dealing with a shortage of teachers and a lack of transportation and other school resources.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted Monday on social media that the United States is trying to induce "a social explosion through asphyxiation."
The United States has maintained an economic embargo on Cuba since the 1960s, but the punitive measures have grown worse in the second Trump administration. Only one oil tanker has been allowed to dock in Cuba since the beginning of 2026.
In May, U.S. President Donald Trumpsigned an executive order permitting the sanctioning of those operating in Cuba's energy, defense, mining and financial services sectors, as well those the U.S. calls complicit in human rights abuses or corruption related to Cuba working for or providing services to the Havana government.
Cuban and U.S. officials have held multiple talks over the past few weeks, CNN reported.
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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 5:07 PM.