Cuban officials report island-wide blackout as country struggles with energy crisis

An island-wide blackout has left millions of people in Cuba without electricity as the country grapples with severe fuel shortages and a worsening economic crisis.

By: AP

2 min readHavanaMar 17, 2026 12:14 AM IST First published on: Mar 17, 2026 at 12:14 AM IST

A street vendor walks along the Malecon looking for customers during a general blackout in Havana. (AP photo/ file)

Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen. Cuba has blamed its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after President Donald Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to it.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday said the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and was operating on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants, and the government has had to postpone surgeries for tens of thousands of people.

A massive outage over a week ago affected the island’s west, leaving millions without power.

Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country in early January and arrested its then-president, Nicolás Maduro.