Cuba Blackout
An elderly woman sits in the doorway of her home to catch the cool air during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.
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Cuba’s power grid has collapsed, leaving millions of people across the island without electricity. The Ministry of Energy and Mines announced the blackout on its official X account without mentioning the cause and added that officials had begun “activating service-restoration protocols.” Power grid collapses have become increasingly common over the past two years because of the severe economic crisis gripping the island. They have worsened since January, after the United States imposed an energy blockade aimed at forcing a change in Cuba’s political system. The two most recent nationwide blackouts occurred in early August, following others in July and March, as well as several regional outages.
