Massive blackout hits Cuba, prompting government to shutter schools and workplaces

HAVANA, Cuba — A massive outage left millions of Cubans without power and prompted the government Friday to implement emergency measures to slash demand, including suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.

Cuban officials said that the blackout, which started late Thursday, saw 1.64 gigawatts go offline during peak hours in the early evening, about half the total demand at the time.

“The situation has worsened in recent days,” Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said in a special address on national television in the early hours of Friday. “We must be fully transparent ... we have been halting economic activities to ensure energy for the population.”

During his address, Marrero was accompanied by Alfredo López, chief of the state-owned utility, UNE, who said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residences’ air conditioners, as well as breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.

Changes to electricity rates for small- and medium-sized companies, which have proliferated since they were first authorized by the communist government in 2021, are also being considered, Marrero said.

Marrero sought to placate people’s concerns about the outage, citing an expected influx of fuel supply from Cuba's state-owned oil company.

Even in a country accustomed to frequent outages amid a deepening economic crisis, the size of Thursday night’s blackout left millions of Cubans on edge. Residents shut their doors and windows they typically leave open at night, and candles or lanterns were visible inside their homes.