Scattered protests erupted across Havana on Tuesday night as residents banged pots, honked horns and demanded the return of electricity after millions of Cubans were left without power during the island’s latest nationwide blackout.
Cuba was hit by an islandwide blackout on July 6, cutting power across a country already living with long planned outages, fuel shortages and a strained electric grid.
The state-run Electric Union said the cause of the outage was under investigation. The Ministry of Energy and Mines said restoration protocols had been activated as officials tried to bring service back.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said smaller local systems were operating within hours of the collapse. “Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exacerbated by the energy blockade we face,” he said.
The outage affected a country of nearly 10 million people, where residents have already been enduring controlled power cuts that can last more than 24 hours. Public transportation has been sharply reduced, and officials have canceled tens of thousands of surgeries as fuel supplies have tightened.
Cuba produces about 40% of the fuel it needs. A Russian tanker delivered 730,000 barrels of oil in late March, but that supply had run out by the end of April.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel accused the United States of trying to “incite social unrest by strangling Cuba’s fuel supply.” He also praised electricity workers, writing that their actions during what he called a “genocidal energy blockade” were heroic.
In Havana, residents described another day of improvising around power, water and cooking shortages. Lina May, 36, said she was worried about preparing rice for her family.
“I just told my dad that we have to buy charcoal because otherwise we won’t eat and we’ll starve,” she said.
