The power grid in Cuba has once more failed, leaving residents of the Caribbean island in darkness.
Reuters reported on Friday that the electrical grid sustained a “total collapse” as millions were left entirely without power.
The outlet noted that the collapse of the power grid was driven by high-voltage transmission lines failing in central Cuba around 2 p.m.
Felix Estrada, an official with Cuba’s National Electrical Union, said in a statement that “protocols are now in place to begin the gradual restoration of the system.”
Some neighborhoods in Havana — especially those near hospitals — had their power restored by Friday evening.
But the rest of Cuba’s capital and largest city remained dark even as clouds and rain gathered.
Reuters reported that there have been at least six partial or total blackouts so far this year in Cuba.
There were three collapses in July alone.
The outlet added that many in Havana are accustomed to the grid failing, and are used to enduring many hours or even days without power.
“Yesterday I’d gone without power for 24 hours. They turned the lights on for an hour, and then the grid collapsed,” Frank Lorenzo, a 23-year-old Havana resident, told Reuters.
Reuters noted that the power grid has been placed under additional strain by the U.S. oil blockade that started in January.
The Council on Foreign Relations said in a 2023 analysis that the nation’s communist regime was at its weakest point in decades — even before the most recent woes.
“Cuba’s centrally planned economy has been mired by stagnation for decades. But over the past five years, the pillars propping up the island’s already feeble economy collapsed one by one, sending it into a tailspin,” the think tank noted.
Among other factors, oil production from Venezuela declined, while Brazil and Colombia nixed arrangements under which Cuba sent medical professionals to work abroad and took most of their pay.
Cuban tourism also plummeted with COVID lockdowns.
Hellbound and Down 