Cuba Reconnects To Power Grid After Latest Island Blackout

Cuba fully restored its energy grid early Wednesday after the third nationwide blackout this year, but authorities warned more outages could follow due to fuel shortages.

This article was originally published by Insider Paper.

The Caribbean island is reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades — one made worse by a fuel blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump in January as part of a pressure campaign aimed at ending six decades of communist rule.

Unlike in previous major blackouts, the low fuel supplies have complicated the process of restoring the system after it went offline at noon on Monday, leaving the entire country of 9.6 million without power.

Electricity was restored to large parts of Cuba on Tuesday, and by early Wednesday the national grid was back online across all provinces, according to state electricity company Union Electrica.

But power restoration will not bring long-term relief to the population as the electricity production shortfall will continue to cause blackouts across much of the country, Felix Estrada, a senior official at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, said on state television.

Deteriorating infrastructure and fuel shortages have led to widespread outages, which have only worsened since Washington imposed its blockade that has starved Cuba’s aging power generators of fuel.