Cuba's Power Grid Collapses Again, Leaving Millions in Darkness

Cuba's national electrical grid collapsed entirely on Friday, cutting power to millions across the island after a failure in high-voltage transmission lines in central Cuba, authorities said.

The outage struck around 2 p.m. local time, according to the National Electrical Union (UNE). Official Felix Estrada said protocols had been activated to begin restoring the system gradually.

By late evening, electricity had returned to a few scattered neighborhoods in Havana, mainly around hospitals, but much of the capital remained dark under cloudy, rainy skies.

The blackout is at least the sixth partial or total grid collapse since January. For many Cubans, the latest failure blended into a routine of prolonged outages. Some Havana residents had already been without power when the grid went down.

"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 resident of the capital, bracing for a night of heat and mosquitoes.

Cuba's aging generation system has struggled for years with fuel shortages and deteriorating infrastructure. A US-imposed oil blockade that began in January has sharply worsened blackouts and made grid collapses more frequent, the report said.

The grid failed three times in July, and rolling blackouts have since stretched to 30 hours or more across much of the country.

United Nations human rights experts have condemned the US oil blockade as a violation of international law, warning that Cuba risks becoming a "silent Gaza" as shortages and blackouts deepen.