The Cuban government announced Monday that the country was hit by a nationwide blackout. The Ministry for Energy and Mines said there had been a “total disconnection” from the electricity grid and that authorities are investigating the causes and activating restoration protocols.
Cuba has endured prolonged power cuts as the Trump administration moves to block Venezuelan oil shipments to the island; Venezuela had been Cuba’s main oil supplier. A US operation in January to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro dealt a significant blow to Havana, and since then Washington has backed acting president Delcy Rodríguez and halted oil deliveries to Cuba. Trump has also threatened tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba. Mexico and Russia are among Cuba’s other suppliers.
Amid ongoing shortages, protests have erupted. On Friday, demonstrators angry about outages and rising food prices attacked a building belonging to the ruling Communist Party.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Friday the island had not received oil shipments in more than three months and is relying on solar power, natural gas and thermoelectric plants. Díaz-Canel said Cuba has held talks with the US about the energy and economic crisis.
Shortly after those talks began, Deputy Prime Minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga told NBC News that Cuba plans to allow Cubans living abroad — including those in the United States — to invest in and own businesses on the island.
President Trump has suggested regime change in Cuba could follow other US actions in the region. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday, he said Cuba “wants to make a deal, and I think we will pretty soon either make a deal or do whatever we have to do.”
Edited by: Alex Berry