Cuba’s Blackout Is a Symptom of a Broader Crisis

Cuba’s Blackout Is a Symptom of a Broader Crisis
Residents play dominoes during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Oct. 19, 2024 (AP photo by Ramon Espinosa).

Cuba’s electrical grid has collapsed at least four times since midday Friday, repeatedly plunging around 10 million people into darkness, with the most recent blackout coming yesterday. The grid’s failures follow weeks of planned rolling blackouts and come as Tropical Storm Oscar made landfall in eastern Cuba yesterday evening. (Reuters)

Our Take

Evidently, Cuba was already struggling to restore its power grid before Oscar hit the country yesterday. But the storm will make it much more difficult to restore power, even as the lack of a functioning power grid will worsen the humanitarian impact of flooding and heavy winds in eastern Cuba.

Authorities in the country now say they hope to restore electricity by the end of Tuesday by relying on smaller grids to power each region until the national grid can be stabilized. Still, the prolonged blackout is the result of broader challenges facing Cuba, and those aren’t going away once Oscar passes and power is restored.

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