Cubans Plan Lives Around Fleeting Power as Blackouts Drag On

In Havana, a 20-minute power surge is now a small miracle—even if it arrives at 3 a.m. For 72-year-old Leidis Rodríguez, that unexpected burst meant a frantic dash to cook beans before the lights died again. Her daughter, Yaimara Matos, 41, describes the new rhythm: when electricity returns, the family drops everything to wash clothes, iron, cook, and cool water in the fridge, compressing what once took ten hours into just two.

Across Cuba, daily life has been reshaped by blackouts that can stretch for days. The outages, worsened by a January oil blockade imposed by the Trump administration, have halted public transport, cultural events, and tourism—leaving 25,000 hospitality jobs vacant. Flights are frequently cancelled, workdays shortened, and food spoils in powerless refrigerators. Medicine shortages have also intensified.

While power cuts have long plagued the island, they were once scheduled and predictable, lasting two or three hours. Now, outages are erratic—12 hours, 30 hours, or longer—and the entire grid has collapsed six times this year. Residents have adapted with generators, solar panels, and rechargeable fans. Lianet Barroso, 30, now cooks over wood fires and stores water in bottles, saying, "The life of Cubans has become difficult, hard, and sad."

In some Havana neighborhoods, frustration has boiled over into protests, with residents banging pots and burning garbage after outages exceeding 48 hours. Inflation and the surging dollar make even basic goods hard to afford. At night, 64-year-old engineer Caridad Delgado feeds her cat by rechargeable lamp, lamenting, "At this hour I would have been watching a soap opera on TV. Now, not even in my dreams."