Millions of people in Cuba remained without electricity on Saturday after the nation’s electrical network left the island in the dark last night.
The massive power failure is the fourth in the past six months because a severe economic crisis is plagued by the Caribbean country. The Ministry of Energy and Mines in a statement on social media attributed the recent failure to fail in a substation in the suburbs of Havana, the capital.
The internet and telephone service was around 18 hours after the power supply on Friday at 8 p.m. local time nearby.
Lazaro Guerra, director of electricity in the Ministry, said on national television that power has already been created to support important services such as hospitals.
In a statement by the Cuban electricity union published on Saturday, the strategy of creating “microsystems” that are connected to each other in order to gradually restore the current across the country. Some of them were already operated on in the provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago, Las Thunfas and Pinar del Rio.
In Sancti Spiritus, the Provincial Energy Company reported in its telegram channel that more than 200,000 customers in this area had electricity thanks to these microsystems.
Many Cuban families use electrical devices to prepare their meals. The failure could cause food to thaw in the refrigerators and possibly spoil the island due to the tropical climate of the island.
“When I was about to start cooking and doing spaghetti, the strength went out. And now what?” Cecilia Duquense, a 79-year-old housewife who lives in the workers’ district of Central Havana, said on Saturday.
In Havana, people bought to eat on Saturday. The companies were open, although some operated with batteries or small home generators.
The petrol stations were also open, but the tunnel that runs under Havana Bay and connects the city with the outdoor districts was dark.
Cuba suffered similar power outages in October, November and December. The youngest was the first of 2025, but in mid -February the authorities exposed classes and work activities for two days because electricity generation in the country exceeded over 50 percent.
Experts said that the current disorders are due to a lack of fuel for power plants and aging infrastructure. Most plants have been in operation for more than 30 years.
The failures come, since the Cubans experience a severe economic crisis, the analysts on the effects of Covid-19 pandemic, a program with domestic measures that have triggered inflation and, above all, the tightening of the sanctions by the United States.
