Cuba’s latest blackout underscores its deepening economic crisis as Rubio calls for new leadership
HAVANA (AP) — Large parts of Cuba were without power on Tuesday after its third blackout in four months underscored the island’s deepening energy and economic crises and rising political tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Electricity was slowly being restored to hospitals and some of the island’s 11 million residents, but officials warned that its crumbling power network could fail again.
Cuba’s aging grid has drastically eroded in recent years, leading to daily outages and an increase in significant blackouts.
The government blames its woes on a U.S. energy blockade after Trump in January warned of tariffs on any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba.
Trump was asked during a meeting Tuesday in the Oval Office with the prime minister of Ireland about the U.S. seeking regime change in Cuba but deferred to his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
Rubio, who himself is of Cuban heritage, said the island “has an economy that doesn’t work in a political and governmental system. They can’t fix it.”
“So they have to change dramatically,” Rubio said. “What they announced yesterday is not dramatic enough. It’s not going to fix it.”
The Trump administration is demanding that Cuba release political prisoners and move toward political and economic liberalization in return for a lifting of sanctions. Trump has also raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover of Cuba.”
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.
While Cuba produces 40% of its petroleum and has been generating its own power, it hasn’t been sufficient to meet demand as its electric grid continues to crumble.
Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said on X that the island had restored the electrical system in the western town of Pinar del Rio and the southeastern province of Holguin and that some “microsystems” were beginning to operate in various territories.
State-owned media reported that by late Monday power had been restored to 5% of residents in the capital, Havana, representing some 42,000 customers.
The city’s residents are concerned about food spoiling and simply trying to maneuver in homes with no lighting.
“The power outages are driving me crazy,” said 48-year-old Dalba Obiedo. “Last night I fell down a 27-step staircase. Now I have to have surgery on my jaw. I fell because the lights went out.”
The Ministry of Energy and Mines said earlier that there had been a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system, noting there were no failures in the units that were operating when the grid collapsed.
Lázaro Guerra, the ministry’s electricity director, told state media on Monday that crews were trying to restart several thermoelectric plants, which are key to restoring power.
Havana resident Tomás David Velázquez Felipe, 61, said the relentless outages make him think that Cubans who can should just pack up and leave the island. “What little we have to eat spoils,” he said. “Our people are too old to keep suffering.”
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