On Monday, the United States Embassy in Havana issued a security alert following a complete failure of Cuba’s electricity grid, which occurred at 12:17 PM local time. This outage left the entire island without power and resulted in significant disruptions to cellular and internet services across most provinces. The embassy’s notice highlighted the uncertainty surrounding the cause of the collapse and the timeline for recovery, urging American citizens in Cuba or those planning to travel to the island to take precautionary measures.
The alert emphasized the growing instability of the Cuban electrical grid, marking this incident as the seventh nationwide blackout in the past 18 months. Reports indicate that scheduled outages are a daily occurrence, with unscheduled ones becoming more frequent and lasting longer.
This marks the third total blackout of 2026 and the eighth since late 2024. The series of national power failures began in October 2024 with the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, which led to the first complete disconnection of the National Electric System. The plant, the largest in the country, has suffered from a lack of maintenance since 2010.
The situation has been exacerbated by Venezuela’s cessation of oil shipments to Cuba in January 2026, which stalled 106 distributed generation plants, removing about 890 MW from the grid. At the time of the latest collapse, nine out of 16 thermoelectric units in the country were not operational.
Prior to this blackout, the Electric Union (UNE) had already forecasted a record deficit of up to 2,230 MW during peak hours, with only 935 to 1,050 MW available against a demand of 3,100 MW. Consequently, approximately 70% of the country was already experiencing scheduled blackouts before the total collapse.
In response to the blackout, UNE announced the deployment of microsystems nationwide but did not specify when service would be fully restored. The incident sparked widespread criticism and mockery on social media directed at UNE, while a Communist Youth official attempted to attribute the energy crisis to the administration of Donald Trump.
The U.S. Embassy advised its citizens to ensure their phones and battery banks are charged, keep flashlights and spare batteries ready, store water and non-perishable food, and prepare for medical needs without electricity, including devices that require power and medications needing refrigeration.
This is the seventh security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy concerning Cuba’s energy crisis in 2026, following previous warnings earlier in the year. The longest blackout during this period, recorded in March 2026, lasted over 29 hours in some areas, with certain provinces experiencing outages for several days.
