A blackout leaves 3.5 million people without electricity in the middle of the oil siege imposed by Trump

According to the company, the drop was due to “a shot” on a 220 kilowatt (Kv) high voltage line in the province of Holguín. This fact, the firm detailed, caused the output of the Felton thermoelectric plant system, the largest generator in the east of the island, as well as another power plant and an engine station in the same province.

A trip is an automatic disconnection that is activated when a generator registers anomalous values ​​in the current flow.

This is the second partial fall of the SEN in just over four months due to the constant breakdowns of your obsolete thermoelectric plants and the lack of foreign currency to buy fuel.

United States Siege

The blackout occurs at a time of serious energy crisis in Cubaaggravated by the oil siege imposed by the US Government that threatens to further worsen the critical situation.

In fact, Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba under the argument that “andThe regime aligns itself with numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors hostile to the United States, to which it provides support,” referring to Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Russia, and China.

Havana has already denounced that the US wants to subject Cubans to “extreme conditions” by resorting to “lies, blackmail and coercion.”

In just over a year, Cuba’s national electrical system has also suffered five total collapses. In some of them, the system reset took several days to complete.

However, this Wednesday’s fall, in the absence of more details, is due to the usual problems with the country’s electrical infrastructure. In fact, another partial collapse of the SEN last October was also due to a gunshot.

The state electricity company assured that the disconnection occurred at 8:54 p.m. local time (0:54 GMT) and that the causes of the incident are already “verified.”

Energy crisis

Since mid-2024, the island has been going through a serious energy crisis reflected in daily blackouts that exceed 20 hours in all locations due to the frequent breakdowns of its obsolete thermoelectric plants and the country’s lack of foreign currency to purchase the fuel necessary for its fuel oil and diesel generation units.

Added to this is currently the oil siege imposed by Trump that could aggravate the situation on the island.

On January 31, a new blackout occurred that left 63% of the country without electricity.

With the partial fall of the SEN, now seven of the 16 operational thermoelectric production units are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance, including two of the three largest. This energy source represents on average around 40% of the energy mix in Cuba.

The daily reports of the state company Unión Eléctrica (UNE) have stopped specifying since mid-January the number of distributed generation plants (engines) not operational due to lack of fuel (diesel and fuel oil) and lubricant, a key data to verify the effect of the end of Venezuelan oil for Cuba.

Las Cuban thermal power plants are mostly obsoleteafter decades of exploitation and a chronic deficit in investment and maintenance; while dozens of generation engines are out of service daily due to the country’s lack of foreign currency to import enough fuel.

Independent experts indicate that the energy crisis in Cuba responds to a chronic underfinancing of this sector, completely in the hands of the State since the triumph of the revolution in 1959.

Several independent calculations estimate that they would be accurate between 8,000 and 10,000 million dollars to clean up the electrical system.

The Cuban Government blames, for its part, the impact of the US sanctions to this industry and accuses it of “energy asphyxiation.”

Las crude oil and fuel imports of the island in the first 10 months of 2025 fell more than a third compared to the same period in 2024, as key allies Mexico and Venezuela reduced supplies, according to Reuters.

Prolonged daily blackouts weigh on the economy, which has contracted more than 15% since 2020, according to official figures. In addition, they have been the trigger for the main protests in recent years, such as those in July 2021.