Havana, Cuba - Cubans are gradually getting power back on Wednesday after the third nationwide power outage to hit the island nation in less than ten days, the national electricity company confirmed.
The island nation has been repeatedly suffering from devastating nationwide blackouts due to a brutal US oil embargo which has rattled the island since January.
Most recently, the national power grid went offline at about 11:05 AM on Tuesday, according to the state-run UNE electricity company, leaving the country's 9.6 million inhabitants without power for hours.
Cubans began getting power back late on Tuesday, but at around 4:00 AM on Wednesday only 24 percent of households in Havana had electricity, according to UNE.
"Restoration is being carried out gradually, as permitted by the National Electric System," UNE said on Telegram.
The blackout was caused by a problem with a generating unit at a thermoelectric plant which caused a "sudden frequency change."
It was the third complete blackout on the Caribbean island since early July and the fifth since the start of 2026.
"I have no words," Maria Caridad Alvarez, a 62-year-old housewife, told AFP. "When I woke up this morning, the power was back and I cooked some beans. Now, I went out and it's off again."
"It feels like there is no solution," she said, warning that the energy crisis "is killing people's enthusiasm for life."
"This situation is mainly due to the state of our electrical system, exacerbated by the decisions of the United States," Energy and Mines Minister Vicente de la O Levy said on Tuesday at a press conference.
"We are practically living through a war," he said, adding there is a "total absence of fuel" and the government cannot obtain spare parts for its plants.