Cuba hit by total blackout as US fuel blockade bites

HAVANA: A power outage struck the entire island of Cuba on Monday (Mar 16), the state-owned electric company said, the latest blackout as the United States pursues its oil blockade against the island’s communist government.

The cuts resulted from a “complete shutdown of the national grid,” Union Nacional Electrica de Cuba (UNE) said in a statement, adding that work had begun to restore electricity flow.

Cuba’s ageing electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island, which lacks the fuel needed to generate power.

But since the US ouster of Cuba’s top ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on Jan 3, the island’s economy has been hammered further as US President Donald Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade.

No oil has been imported to the island since Jan 9, hitting the power sector while also forcing airlines to curtail flights to the island, a blow to the all-important tourism sector.

The crisis in the country of 9.6 million people comes as Trump has made no secret of his desire to see regime change in Havana.

In early March, a blackout hit two-thirds of the country, mainly in the centre and west, for over a day after a breakdown at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the island’s largest.