HAVANA (AP) — Large areas of western Cuba continue to experience power outages on Thursday, almost 24 hours after a widespread electrical failure struck the region in another incident attributed to the island’s deteriorating power infrastructure and fuel shortages.
Repair teams have been working through the night to fix a damaged boiler at a major thermoelectric facility, though authorities caution that complete power restoration may require three to four days.
According to state media, approximately 297,000 Havana residents, representing 34% of customers, currently have electricity, along with 37 medical facilities and five water treatment facilities.
Cuba’s Electric Union posted on X that the power system is functioning “in a limited capacity, prioritizing basic services, primarily health and water supply.”
State media indicated that two generating facilities are currently shut down due to petroleum shortages.
The island nation has faced ongoing challenges with its deteriorating electrical infrastructure and unreliable fuel deliveries, with the situation worsening significantly in recent months.
Critical petroleum deliveries from Venezuela stopped after the United States targeted the South American nation in early January. Following that, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any nation providing oil to Cuba.
In recent weeks, Cuban authorities enacted strict fuel conservation policies and announced that aviation fuel would be unavailable at nine airports through mid-March.
This power failure marks the second major outage to affect western Cuba in a three-month period.
The December blackout persisted for almost 12 hours. Authorities attributed that incident to a malfunction in transmission infrastructure connecting two generating facilities, which created system overload and triggered the collapse of the western power network.
Many of Cuba’s power generation facilities have been in service for more than three decades and receive minimal upkeep due to financial constraints. Government officials state that U.S. economic sanctions have blocked access to replacement equipment and specialized components.
