Cuba's Power Crisis: Grid Collapse Fuels Protests

Cuba's electrical grid collapsed, marking the fourth outage this year and fueling protests in Havana. The Energy Ministry has initiated recovery protocols. The U.S. oil blockade is blamed for infrastructure issues, exacerbated by halted oil shipments from Mexico. Washington cites Cuba's economic mismanagement as a cause.

Cuba's national electrical grid suffered a collapse on Friday, marking its second total outage in a week and the fourth this year, according to the country's grid operator, UNE.

The Energy Ministry announced on social media that protocols are being activated to begin the recovery process. The persistent power failures have heightened social tensions, prompting sporadic pot-banging protests in Havana following Monday's nationwide blackout.

The situation is exacerbated by a U.S. oil blockade imposed under President Donald Trump after Washington removed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela was a crucial fuel supplier for Cuba. Additional U.S. pressure led Mexico to cease oil shipments to the island. Cuba attributes its crumbling infrastructure to the longstanding U.S. trade embargo, while Washington points to economic mismanagement by Cuba's state-run system as the root cause of the outages.