Cuba’s efforts to restore power to the island were derailed for a third time late on Saturday, Cuban authorities said shortly before midnight, leaving millions in the dark and raising fresh questions over the viability of the government’s bid to reestablish electrical service.
Cuba’s national electrical grid first crashed around midday on Friday after the island’s largest power plant shut down. The grid collapsed again on Saturday morning, state-run media reported.
By early evening, authorities reported some progress restoring power before announcing the grid had once again collapsed.
“Tonight at 10:25 p.m. the total disconnection of the national electro-energetic system occurred again,” the Havana Electric company said on Telegram late on Saturday.
The post was later removed from the company’s Telegram feed. It was not immediately clear why the post was removed, but millions were still without power on early on Sunday.
Cuba’s energy ministry said shortly after the Havana Electric post that it was working to reestablish service, adding that “another disconnection” had occurred in the “western sub-system,” which includes the capital Havana.
“The process of reestablishing the electrical system continues to be complex,” the ministry said on X.
A third grid collapse marks a major setback in the government’s efforts to quickly restore power to exhausted residents already suffering from severe food, medicine and fuel shortages.
Reuters reporters witnessed two small protests overnight, one in Marianao and the other in the Cuatro Caminos area of Havana. Various videos of protests elsewhere in the capital began to crop up on social media late on Saturday, though Reuters was not able to verify their authenticity.