By Dave Sherwood
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s power grid collapsed again on Sunday, the fourth failure in 48 hours, with a lashing storm adding to the island’s woes and threatening further damage to its already dilapidated infrastructure.
Cuba said earlier on Sunday it was making progress in restoring services after several power-on errors, even though millions of people were still living without electricity more than two days after the grid went out.
“Restoration work will begin immediately,” said the Ministry of Energy and Mines in X.
Hurricane Oscar hit the Caribbean island on Sunday, bringing strong winds, a powerful storm surge and rain to eastern Cuba and threatening to further complicate the government’s efforts to restore services.
Cuba’s meteorological survey warned of an “extremely dangerous situation” in eastern Cuba, while the US National Hurricane Center reported winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour) as the storm crossed the island.
“According to forecasts, the center of Hurricane Oscar is expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba tonight and Monday, then emerge off the northern coast of Cuba on Monday evening and cross the central Bahamas on Tuesday,” the Hurricane Center said.
The Communist government closed schools until Wednesday – an unprecedented move in Cuba – citing the storm and the ongoing energy crisis. Officials said only essential workers should report to work on Monday.
The repeated collapses of the power grid mark a major setback in the government’s efforts to quickly restore power to an exhausted population suffering from food, medicine and fuel shortages.
Multiple setbacks in the first 48 hours also underscored the complexity of the work and the still precarious condition of the country’s power grid.
Cuba had restored power to 160,000 clients in Havana just before the power grid went down on Sunday, providing a glimmer of hope for some residents.
But housewife Anabel Gonzalez, who lives in Havana, an area popular with tourists, said she was increasingly desperate after three days without power.
“My phone is dead and look at my refrigerator. Everything I have is wasted,” he said, pointing to the empty shelves in his two-bedroom home.
Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy told reporters earlier on Sunday that he expected the power grid to be fully functional by Monday or Tuesday but warned residents not to expect dramatic improvements.
It is not yet clear how much the setbacks will hinder the government’s efforts.
Cuba’s national power grid first experienced disruption around midday on Friday after the island’s largest power plant was shut down, causing chaos. The power grid collapsed again on Saturday morning, state media reported.
On Saturday afternoon, authorities reported some progress in restoring power before announcing another partial power outage.
INCREASING TENSION
Reuters journalists witnessed two small protests overnight after a power grid failure plunged Havana into darkness on Saturday evening, one on the outskirts of the capital in Marianao and the other in the more central Cuatro Caminos. Videos of protests elsewhere in the capital began appearing on social media on Saturday evening, although Reuters could not verify their authenticity.
Energy Minister O Levy said the power outages were disturbing residents, but he said most Cubans understood and supported the government’s efforts to restore power.
“It is Cuban culture to work together,” O Levy told reporters on Sunday. “The isolated and minimal incidents that do exist, we categorize as untrue, indecent.”
Internet traffic dropped sharply in Cuba over the weekend, according to data from internet monitoring group NetBlocks, as a massive power outage left much of the island’s population unable to charge phones and access the internet.
“Network data shows that most of Cuba remains offline as the island experiences its second nationwide power outage,” Netblocks said on Saturday.
The government blamed weeks of worsening power outages – of 10 to 20 hours a day on most of the island – on deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
Cuba also blames the US trade embargo, as well as sanctions imposed by President Donald Trump, for ongoing difficulties in obtaining fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil-fired power plants.
The US denies any involvement in the power grid failure.
Cuba relies on imports to supply its largely obsolete oil-fired power plants. Fuel shipments to Cuba have fallen significantly this year as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once important suppliers, have cut their exports to Cuba.
Its ally Venezuela, struggling to supply its own market, halved shipments of subsidized fuel to Cuba this year, forcing the island to seek more expensive oil on the spot market.
Mexico, which is also a major supplier of fuel, also appears to have reduced fuel flows to Cuba during the presidential election year.
Recently elected president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has not said whether state-backed supplies to Cuba will continue on the same terms under her administration.
